Vampire Genesis
by Rider Paladin
Summary: TT:Hellsing crossover. In a cult ritual gone awry, Robin is transformed into the ultimate evolution of the vampire, drawing the attention of different organizations of vampire hunters and placing him in the center of a dark conspiracy.
1. Divinity of the Dark

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 1: "Divinity of the Dark"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Time Warner. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano.

Author's note: Yes, people, I am writing a crossover between Teen Titans and Hellsing. The details for Hellsing will be based primarily on the first two volumes of the manga, from which the first two episodes of the Hellsing Ultimate OVA have been adapted. As to how exactly the characters of TT and Hellsing will meet, you will see that in the story itself. I don't want to give away too much too soon, but I can tell you that Argent, Kid Flash, and Jericho are on the team, too. Other than that, just read.

* * *

The first thing Robin awoke to was pain. It was a dragging, stinging sensation, as though someone was carving something into his flesh. He felt something hard on his back, as though he were lying on stone. He attempted to move, but he felt shackles around his ankles and wrists, keeping him restrained. He opened his eyes, only to find that he didn't have the somewhat milky filters of the lenses of his mask to keep them from being seen by everyone present . . . everyone present being a bunch of cloaked chanters. With his eyes open, he could see someone literally carving symbols into his chest.

"What . . . do you think you're doing?" Robin asked.

"Preparing you," the cloaked man replied.

"For what?" Robin asked.

"You shouldn't even have woken up," the cloaked man answered, "but if you insist, I'll tell you. We're preparing you for the return of our goddess."

"What do I have to do with it?" Robin questioned.

"Your body will be the shell that contains her glorious essence," the cloaked man replied. "She will be reborn in you."

"Why do you need me?" Robin asked.

"We needed a natural human," the cloaked man explained. "Someone with no abilities beyond those of natural humans, but trained to the peak of natural human ability. That was why we set our sights on you." He chuckled. "It was so easy to draw you out, to separate you from your friends . . . your nobility is to be commended, but your recklessness, not so much."

"My friends will find me," Robin avowed.

"No, they won't," the cloaked man denied, continuing his work. "Not without your communicator."

"Don't even need it for them to find me," Robin answered with a smirk.

The chanting reached a crescendo as the cloaked man finished his work. The marks he had carved into Robin's chest began to glow a lurid silver-black as a whirlpool of darkness formed in the ceiling. Out of that whirlpool came an entity seemingly made of black smoke. Crimson eyes locked onto his as the entity began to descend upon him.

_You're not taking me without a fight,_ Robin snarled internally.

To his relief he heard a familiar mantra. Dark energy mixed with the energy emanating from the marks on his chest, swirling around him even as the dark entity entered. The three forces intertwined within him, drawing screams of pain from him. Beyond the pain, he could feel his muscles tightening and yet becoming more elastic. His vision was sharpening, allowing him to see every detail despite the dim light provided by the torches. He could hear everything in the room, from heartbeats to breathing to the sounds of battle. The sensory overload nearly caused him to pass out, the last thing he was clearly aware of being someone pulling off his shackles and taking him into their slender yet powerful arms.

_Rest now, Robin,_ a voice purred within his thoughts. _You will be fine. When you awake, you will be renewed._

* * *

When Robin next awoke, he awoke inside his own bed. He pushed the sheets off him and climbed out of bed, still able to see every detail despite the fact that he didn't even have his window open. He walked to his wardrobe to get dressed in one of his uniforms, but when he opened it, he found quite a shock. All of his uniforms were gone, replaced by sleeveless black uniforms with red R's emblazoned on the left breasts, looking as though they had been slashed onto the fabric. His steel-toed boots were still there, but they were accented with buckled straps around the calves.

"What the hell is going on here?" Robin asked.

_I thought you'd appreciate my new uniforms,_ a female voice – ancient, sensuous, and powerful – spoke within his thoughts. _If you're going to host me, you can't go around dressed in that abomination you used to wear._

"Where are you?" Robin asked.

_Inside you,_ the voice replied. _Greetings, my container. I am L'andira._

"You're the goddess those nutcases sealed inside me," Robin deduced.

_Yes, although that wasn't their intent,_ L'andira replied. _The only reason I'm merely sealed inside you instead of controlling your body is that your friend the half-breed ruined the ritual._

"Well, you're stuck with me," Robin sneered. "Deal with it." He reached inside the wardrobe and picked out one of the uniforms L'andira had altered for him. Slipping it on, he was surprised to find that it fit him perfectly. He put on the boots, snapping on the buckled straps, and donned the gloves, which were black with metal pads on the backs of the hands. He snapped on the buckled straps on the thighs of his pants and donned his utility belt, which was now a dark silver color with a robin symbol as the buckle. He finished with his cape, which was black with red lining and jagged tatters at the bottom, and his standard mask.

"Robin?" a familiar British-accented female voice asked.

Robin turned around, spotting a silver-skinned, dark-haired girl in a black corset-style top and red dual-layered skirt with a serrated hem. Black arm-covers with serrated red edges and red shoes with black socks added to the ensemble, with a black choker and red anarchy tattoo completing it. Red eyes stared at him with concern and surprise.

"Not that I don't like the look, but where'd the new uniform come from?" she asked.

"I'd tell you, Argent," Robin replied, "but the others have to know too. Mind if I come down?"

"We've been waiting for you to come down," Argent said. "We all took turns watching over you while you recovered."

"How long was I out?" Robin asked.

"The entire night and all day today, too," Argent replied. "And who were you talking to just now?"

"My tenant," Robin answered.

When Robin and Argent joined the other Titans, they were gathered in the living room, which doubled as their ops room. They all looked at Robin with varying expressions of relief and shock and surprise. "Dude . . ." Beast Boy uttered. "You look like Batman crossed with something out of an Anne Rice novel!"

"Didn't know you were into vampires, Beast Boy," Kid Flash remarked.

"Thanks for the compliment," Robin remarked sardonically.

"I'm glad you're all right, Robin, but I'm sensing a second presence inside you," Raven said.

"That would be L'andira," Robin answered.

"L'andira?" Raven echoed. "_The_ L'andira? The patron goddess of vampires?"

"Patron goddess of vampires?" Kid Flash asked. "You mean Robin's got a woman inside him? That's gonna make going to the bathroom embarrassing."

"Yes," Raven confirmed. "As the legend goes, vampires are all descended from her, the first vampire having been born from a mixture of human blood with her essence. Her essence granted the first vampire physical and mental capacities far in excess of anything a normal human would be capable of, but it would burn out the first vampire internally unless she drank blood from living creatures, which is where the vampiric thirst came from. That is what's inside you now, Robin."

"Vampire or not, it's still good that you're ok," Cyborg said.

"Yes, we are most happy that you are unharmed," Starfire added, hugging Robin tightly. For once, Robin didn't feel constricted by her hug. In fact, it felt quite . . . nice.

_Especially with that body pressed against you,_ L'andira murmured. _Oh, the things we could do to her . . ._ Her thoughts bled into Robin's mind, filling him with images of Starfire naked and spread before him.

Robin pulled away from Starfire, able to do so quite easily now much to the Tamaranean girl's surprise. His cheeks were now crimson from the blood that had surged into them. Better that the blood go there than go southward, considering how tight his pants were. They would not disguise his arousal at all.

"Stop it," he muttered, unaware that he was speaking out loud.

"Robin?" Starfire asked. "Have I done something wrong?"

_Don't like her?_ L'andira asked. _Very well. How about the half-demon? Raven, is it? Oh, the ways I could . . . how do humans say it . . . fuck her._

Again, L'andira's thoughts poured into Robin's mind, filling him with images of a naked Raven in various sexualized poses. He gripped his head, trying futilely to make the images stop. "STOP IT!" he yelled. "Goddamn you, STOP!"

"What the hell's your problem?!" Cyborg asked. "She's just trying to help you!"

"It's not her," Robin answered in a strained voice. "It's . . ." He tore out of Titans Tower, moving at a speed that no one except Kid Flash could match or even see. He ran as far away from Titans Tower as he could go, needing to escape before the lust L'andira was triggering in him drove him to rape his female teammates. As he ran, the lust metamorphosed into something else, something worse. . . . It was a thirst, a ravenous craving, a horrible wanting that made him run after something in the shadows of the forest.

* * *

That something ran from him, sensing a predator, but Robin was faster and was on the creature in mere moments. His fangs tore through fur and muscle and into the vein, the blood spurting forth and into his mouth. Robin drank greedily, not stopping until he'd had his fill. By then, his mind had cleared and he could see what he'd done, what he'd killed . . . a doe . . .

Robin let out a scream of horror that rang deafeningly in his own ears. As he screamed, crimson tears seeped out from beneath his mask. When he finally stopped screaming, he punched the ground, creating a crater within it. "What have you done to me?" he asked angrily.

_You're a vampire now, Robin,_ L'andira answered. _This is what you do to survive. You take the blood of the living._

"Like some fucking parasite?!" Robin asked furiously.

_Like a god takes offerings from his subjects,_ L'andira amended, _because that is what you are. You are a dark god among insects. Deal with it._

Robin sped to the river and began drinking its water frantically, trying to wash the taste of blood out of his mouth. As much as he wiped away the visible evidence, he could not wipe away the taste. The worst thing about it was that it had felt good . . . it had felt good to pursue that doe, to drink its blood . . .

_I'm not a monster,_ Robin thought. _I'm not a monster. I fight monsters. I'm not a monster. I fight monsters. I protect the innocent from monsters. I'm not a monster. I'm not . . ._

_No, you are not,_ L'andira agreed. _You are a god._

Robin snarled and ran again, this time to a familiar place. He quickly found himself underground, inside a hidden fortress that had once been Slade's headquarters. He had secretly cleaned the place up and set it up as his own private sanctuary. The technology in it was cannibalized from both Titans Tower and what had been left of Slade's tech. Meshing them had given him a hyper-advanced technological haven to work from in case he couldn't access the Titans computer.

Now . . . it would be his hiding place. He couldn't be with the Titans now, not with what he'd done, not with what he was. Was he to spend the rest of his life fighting L'andira's unholy wants? If so, he couldn't be around the other Titans, not with the possibility that she would make him attack them to satisfy her cravings.

Unfortunately, it seemed that he wouldn't even get that kind of peace and quiet. "Robin?" he heard Raven call out.

"Stay away," Robin snarled, his cape cloaking his body.

"Why should I do that?" Raven asked, coming closer to him, now visible to the transformed Dark Squire. "Are you going to hurt me?"

"These cravings . . ." Robin replied. "Her thoughts . . . you don't even want to know what she wants me to do to you."

"I can imagine from the surge of lust I felt from you – or rather, her – before you tore off like that," Raven answered. "You always come here when you need to get away, don't you?"

"How do you know?" Robin asked.

"We have a bond, Robin," Raven stated. "You were moving faster than a speeding bullet, yes, but once you stopped, I could track you more easily."

"I . . . I can't go back," Robin said.

"Why not?" Raven asked.

"Because I killed an innocent creature," Robin replied bitterly. "I killed an innocent creature to sate my own thirst!"

"I sensed your remorse," Raven said. "And that tells me that your intrinsic humanity is still there. It'll always be there." She moved closer to Robin, even though Robin didn't turn to look at her. "You're Robin. You're stronger than your thirst."

Robin didn't speak for a full five minutes. That was fine by Raven, as she didn't like to talk very much. When he finally spoke, it was one word. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Raven said. "Now do you want to come back to the Tower?"

"Let me stay here for a while," Robin answered.

"Sure," Raven replied. "Don't worry. I won't tell the others where you are."

"I know," Robin whispered. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Raven answered, sinking into a shadowy warp in the floor and leaving Robin alone to regain his bearings.

* * *

When Robin returned to Titans Tower, he was given a warm hug from Starfire. Robin simply smiled and returned the hug before gently pulling himself away from her. He turned to the other Titans, beginning to speak, "I just wanna say I'm –"

"Sorry?" Cyborg finished. "No need. You've been through a rough time. Raven told us that you had that goddess putting thoughts in your head that shouldn't be there. I can understand what that's like." He shuddered in remembrance of the maniacal Brother Blood.

"You were running pretty damn fast," Kid Flash commented.

"I was?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Beast Boy confirmed. "I heard a fucking sonic boom after you started running like that."

"And my sensors were analyzing your velocity," Cyborg added. "You were going at roughly one-point-seventy-seven times the speed of sound."

"Didn't know I was that fast," Robin remarked.

"Considering you have the mother (or grandmother) of vampires inside you, that might not even be the full extent of your powers," Cyborg mused.

* * *

In a stately gated mansion in the United Kingdom, a woman sat at her office desk. She was young, only in her early-to-mid-twenties by any onlooker's reckoning, but her crystal blue eyes – shielded by round glasses – betrayed a spirit considerably older, wiser, and more experienced than most her age. Her hair was long and such a pale shade of blonde as to appear almost white. The charms of her body, however, were well hidden underneath a severe men's business suit. Her name was Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, the leader of the organization that bore her name.

At that moment, three others entered her office, two male and one female. One of the males was of indeterminate age, appearing young on one hand yet carrying an aura of great age and experience. He was dressed in a red coat and fedora over Victorian-style clothes and orange-tinted glasses. The other was much older yet still very spry, with long dark hair styled in a ponytail and a monocle over his left eye. The female was very young, appearing to be somewhere between 18 and 21, and garbed in a skirted yellow uniform that strained to contain an impressive bust and white stockings. Her hair was blonde and somewhat spiky at the ends and her eyes were blue.

"Alucard, Walter, Seras," Integra addressed each one. "My intelligence in the States has gathered that a vampire cult has succeeded, at least in part, in resurrecting their god."

"And how did they do that?" Alucard asked, his voice betraying only slight interest.

"The cult sealed its god's essence inside a human," Integra replied. "One of the 'superheroes' so prevalent in the States these days." She looked at the photographs scattered over her desk and picked out one, pushing it to the edge of her desk to be viewed by Alucard, Seras, and Walter. The picture was of eight oddly dressed teenagers, three girls and five boys. Integra's finger was poised above the black-caped boy standing most prominently in the picture.

"Robin?" Walter mused. "The Boy Wonder. Leader of the Teen Titans and onetime junior partner to Gotham City's dark defender the Batman."

Alucard's nose wrinkled in distaste. "No creature of the night would abide such clothing."

"Alucard, Seras, you two will go to Jump City in the United States," Integra ordered. "You will find Robin and you will engage him to determine what abilities he now possesses and how far they have advanced."

"This boy is supposed to be a skilled fighter," Alucard said. "With the god sealed inside him, he might just be a challenge."

* * *

The next night, Robin was riding his R-Cycle, which L'andira had taken the liberty of modifying just like with his uniforms. When he'd first touched the R-Cycle after his transformation, dark matter had extended from his hands and modified the motorcycle. It had become a sleeker, terrifyingly beautiful black beast vaguely reminiscent of Cloud Strife's motorcycle in the _Final Fantasy VII_ movie _Advent Children._ In fact, Beast Boy had commented on that similarity, being the avid video game fan that he was.

He recalled talking with Argent, just before he'd left. She'd asked him how he was feeling. He'd simply answered that he was feeling better than he had been the night before. Talking with her, as brief as it had been, hadn't been an easy task; he could hear her heart pumping blood through her veins, delicious blood that he could so easily take . . . The thought of her in his embrace, as he drank from her, made him shudder and he wasn't sure if that shudder came from horror or desire.

He recalled her parting words as he rode his R-Cycle: _"If you need anything, I'll be there."_

Robin sped through the night, his cycle slicing through the darkness like a black knife. The motorcycle roared ominously, leaving terror in the hearts of any who heard it. He spotted a robbery of a corner store in progress and rode his motorcycle through the plate-glass window, shattering it with the speed and force of his movement, shocking everyone present. Somehow, the shards of the window flew at the robber of their own volition, slicing his gun hand and cutting him in several places.

Robin leaped off the R-Cycle and took down the robber with a swift chop to the back of his neck. He caught the gun before it could land on the ground and crushed it into a small ball, tossing it aside. "You would rather be somewhere else," he told the would-be robber.

"Yes," the robber replied blankly. "Yes, I would." With that said, the robber fled.

"Not that I don't appreciate you chasing off that punk, but did you have to do it like _that?_" the shopkeeper asked.

Robin looked at the shards and they began to fly back into the window frame, assembling like a puzzle being solved at high speed. Once all the pieces were together, the cracks faded away, revealing a whole windowpane. The Dark Squire looked at what he'd done in shock. "Whoa . . . how did I . . . ?"

_Thank me for that,_ L'andira replied. _You have more power than just in your body. Your mind possesses great power as well, but it'll take some training before you can consciously use it. For now, it will simply respond to your subconscious will._

"Uh, thanks," the shopkeeper said.

Robin simply wheeled his motorcycle out of the shop, sparing a "You're welcome" before he exited completely. He was just about to straddle the bike and make his way back out into the street when he spotted a man facing him. The man was tall and garbed in a red coat and fedora over Victorian-era clothes. His hair was dark and red eyes stared out at the Dark Squire concealed behind orange-tinted glasses.

"Who are you?" Robin asked.

"So . . . you are Robin," the man stated. "I almost didn't recognize you in that new outfit. It suits a creature of the night like you much better than your former attire."

"You didn't answer my question," Robin rejoined. "Who are you?"

"Very well, if you must know," the man answered, "my name is Alucard. And you and I are going to fight."

"Why do you want to fight me?" Robin asked.

"It's my job," Alucard replied with a tone of amusement, pulling out a black gun that had to be a little over a foot long. Robin observed quietly that it was too large for a normal human to wield and thus concluded that Alucard wasn't a normal human. He caught Alucard's scent on the air and it was an odd scent, an unnatural musk. He could also smell someone else, bearing the same unnatural musk but mixed with something unquestionably female.

Alucard pointed his gun at Robin and fired, only for Robin to catch the bullet. "Not here," Robin said.

"Then where?" Alucard asked, casting a quick look above Robin.

"Follow me," Robin answered, straddling his motorcycle and riding away. Alucard followed, moving just fast enough to keep Robin in his sights.

* * *

Robin finally stopped at a quarry. "We can fight here," he said. "We meaning you, me, and your partner."

Alucard smirked. "Your senses are very good. Police Girl, you can come out of hiding; he knows you're here."

A petite girl appeared from the shadows, appearing older than Robin, but not by much. She had slightly short blonde hair that flared out at the ends into an almost-spiky tail. Her garb was a yellow skirted uniform, the top of which strained to contain her generous bosom, and white stockings. She carried a massive gun that seemed too heavy for someone her size to carry. Of course, Robin had experience with girls possessing super-strength, so it didn't surprise him much.

"I have a name," she pouted.

Alucard pointed his gun at Robin and fired, only for Robin to flip out of the way of the bullets. The Dark Squire jumped off the cliff and down into the quarry, pulling out black-and-red Birdarangs from his utility belt and flinging them at Alucard with superhuman speed and force. Alucard descended after Robin, shooting away the younger vampire's projectiles with his gun. Robin landed on his hands and flipped back onto his feet, throwing another Birdarang at Alucard, who this time opted to catch it and throw it back at Robin.

Robin dodged his own Birdarang as Alucard resumed firing at him. Robin continued dodging the bullets and charged Alucard as the older vampire began to reload. Of course, Alucard was faster at reloading than Robin had anticipated and thus shot Robin point-blank in the stomach while Robin was rushing him. Robin's stomach burst in an explosion of blood and entrails, leaving the Boy Wonder to collapse on his front.

"Is that all you have, boy?" Alucard asked derisively. "I didn't even aim for your heart or your head."

Robin gritted his teeth and pulled himself back to his feet. Now standing, it could be clearly seen that the wound in his stomach had healed itself. The shadow matter that made up his uniform was regenerating as well, quickly stitching itself back together. He looked down at himself in shock, surprised that he could heal so rapidly. Alucard looked rather surprised himself, although that surprise quickly gave way to amusement.

Robin charged Alucard again, dodging Alucard's bullets as he ran at the older vampire. He ducked under the older vampire's bullets and slid into a kick that would have knocked Alucard's feet out from under him if the older vampire hadn't moved out of the way. Robin twisted on his hands and onto his feet, reaching into his utility belt and pulling out three-pronged shuriken with a vaguely triangular design. He threw the shuriken at Alucard, who again shot them out of the air with his gun.

As it turned out, the shuriken had been simply a distraction for Robin to get up close to Alucard. An undeterred Alucard fired into Robin's shoulder, but Robin quickly moved out of the way and punched the older vampire. At that moment, he heard a bullet powerfully push air currents out of its way, heading in his direction. Time seemed to slow and he whirled to catch that bullet. He looked up and saw that it had been "Police Girl" who fired it, and apparently from that giant gun of hers.

Robin smiled at "Police Girl," which elicited a startled look from her. "Yes, Police Girl is quite pretty, but you shouldn't take your eyes off me," Alucard commented, drawing Robin's attention back to him. "It appears that you are no ordinary vampire, but what to expect from one who has a blood-drinking god sealed inside him?" He chuckled darkly. "Control art restriction system. Level three, level two, level one . . . _released._"

As soon as Alucard spoke those words, his body morphed into a mass of shadows with demonic red eyes all over. The shadow mass writhed and slithered toward Robin, who swallowed his terror and drew two Birdarangs, slamming them together into his sword. Robin slashed viciously at the shadow mass Alucard had become, even as the shadow mass grew arms and hands and those arms lunged at Robin. The Dark Squire leaped about like the acrobatic demon he had become, avoiding the arms. He slashed at the arms with his sword, even as one of them projected a large gun and shot his arm off at the shoulder.

Robin held the sword in his remaining arm and charged at the shadow mass, slashing at the arms. He did manage to cut through the arms, but the arms simply regenerated. He thrust his sword at one of the eyes on the shadows, but the shadows merely blocked his attack. They grabbed him, wrapping around him and pulling him closer to the mass.

"Come on, Robin," Alucard's voice spoke from within the shadow mass. "This is surely not all you have to offer me. Where's your fighting spirit? Where's that indomitable will that you're supposed to be so famous for?"

Robin gritted his teeth and suddenly shadow matter burst from the stump where his arm had once been, piercing the shadows holding him and setting him free. The shadow matter hardened into a silver-black quasi-organic metallic arm with a sword blade extending from the back of his hand. The quasi-organic metallic substance also seemed to cover part of his torso but the R symbol was still visible. Robin didn't know where it'd come from, but he could take a guess and it didn't matter. What mattered was kicking Alucard's grotesque ass!

Robin charged through the shadow mass that was once Alucard, slicing through the older vampire's shadows with his newfound sword. As he sliced through the older vampire's shadows, he dodged those same shadows and cut through them as well. An amorphous shadow vaguely resembling a hound lunged from the mass at Robin, but Robin cleaved the creature with his shadow blade. Finally, Alucard rose from the shadow mass in a black leather suit with straitjacket-like bonds around the torso and his hair long and free. Red eyes stared at the Dark Squire with fiendish glee.

"Aha!" he shouted. "This is what I wanted to see from you, Boy Wonder! A contest of real vampires! Hurry, Robin! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Robin sped toward Alucard, slicing him with his shadow blade and his Birdarang sword. Alucard laughed with glee as Robin wounded him, only for those wounds to quickly regenerate. He extended his shadows to attack Robin, but Robin cut through them with a demonic savagery. He charged Alucard, thrusting both swords into his abdomen and chest but missing his heart. He pulled outward with both blades, fiercely wounding Alucard. He spun and slashed Alucard again. Alucard retaliated by sending one of his shadows to stab Robin, but more shadow matter extended from the Dark Squire and blocked the shadow.

Alucard did not seem too upset; on the contrary, he seemed very pleased. "I believe I will take my leave for now. You have proven more of a challenging adversary than I was expecting you to be. Perhaps you are just as challenging as the Judas Priest."

"Judas Priest?" Robin echoed in confusion.

"You will meet him soon, I believe," Alucard replied. "In the meantime, it is time for me to depart. I have learned what I need to know about you." He turned to the younger vampire in his charge. "Police Girl, it is time for us to go."

"Master?" she asked.

"Yes," Alucard replied. "We cannot kill the boy just yet. Not until we have our orders to do so. For now, we will leave him be. Besides . . . he's too much fun to kill so soon."

"Yes, Master," the girl spoke.

Robin jumped up onto the cliff and watched as Alucard and his "Police Girl" departed. He got on his R-Cycle, retracting the shadow blade and gripping the handlebars with both his gloved flesh-and-blood hand and his shadow-matter hand. He started the R-Cycle and rode back to Titans Tower with questions in his mind. Who were those two vampires? Why were they after him? And just what the hell was he capable of that he didn't know yet?

* * *

End Notes: Well, that's the end of the first chapter of Vampire Genesis. Hopefully, you liked it. Even if you didn't, I want your feedback. Any questions, tips, critiques, or comments would be very much welcome.


	2. Judas Priest

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 2: "Judas Priest"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. The former belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers and the latter belongs to Kohta Hirano. I make no profit from this story whatsoever and all I gain is the satisfaction of knowing that I have written a story that people will be interested in reading.

Author's note: There you have it. The first chapter of Vampire Genesis has established a new status quo for the Teen Titans, namely, that their leader has become a juggernaut of vampiric badassery. Trust me, you have not yet seen the full extent of his powers and you will have more opportunities to see the newly vampirized Robin in action, starting with this chapter.

* * *

Alucard was on the phone with Integra, reporting to her about his battle with Robin. "The boy provided a great deal of amusement in fighting him. I haven't had that much fun since Anderson."

Integra sighed on the other end, weary of yet thankful for her servant vampire's lust for battle. "What did you discover about him?"

"He's stronger than I expected. I shot him in the stomach with the Jackal and he regenerated from that."

"How? The Jackal's bullets have silver cores. A vampire cannot regenerate from silver."

"He did. I don't know how he did it, but he did."

Integra pondered this. A vampire so powerful that not only could he survive silver bullets but also regenerate from them like any other wound was a dangerous enemy to have. "It must be the pagan god he has inside him. Her presence within him must negate the holy nature of our weapons."

"I still managed to wound him. I even shot off one of his arms. He just grew a new one, but it wasn't flesh and blood. No, it was solid shadow, like the shadows I can make."

"What else?"

"He's very fast and his senses are quite sharp. He sensed Police Girl and he was able to catch a bullet from her Harkonnen while he was fighting me. Even when I released my restraints, he was still able to fight me and even hurt me." He chuckled. "It was a very pleasant experience. I believe I will seek out the boy again."

"I want you to watch him for now. Do not engage him again just yet. And be on the lookout for any agents of Iscariot that may come after him."

"Yes, Master." The vampire heard a click and then silence, signaling that Integra had hung up.

* * *

When Robin returned to Titans Tower and rejoined his fellow Titans, he found them gaping at him. "It's the arm, isn't it?"

"Yeah, what happened to it?" Beast Boy asked.

"I got into a fight with another vampire," Robin replied. "He had a gun too huge to be carried by a human and he used it to blast a hole in my stomach and shoot my arm off. That's where this came from." By "this" he was indicating the shadow-matter arm that had grown from the stump where his flesh-and-blood arm had once been.

"That's fucking awesome!" Beast Boy exclaimed. Catching the looks from the others, he quickly backpedaled. "Not that you got your arm shot off, but your new one looks kinda cool, even if it's a bit creepy."

"Where's the hole in your stomach?" Kid Flash asked.

"Healed," Robin replied simply.

"How?" Kid Flash asked.

"Vampires have a very high healing capacity," Raven replied. "The 'average' vampire, if there is such a thing, heals several times faster than an ordinary human. Older vampires, or younger vampires directly sired by older vampires, heal many times faster than an ordinary human. Finally, some ancient vampires can be reduced to a fine red mist and still pull themselves back together. Not necessarily uncommon, but not encountered very often."

"A vampire can become that powerful?" Starfire asked.

"Yes," Raven confirmed. "Unlike humans, vampires do not weaken as they age. Rather, they grow more and more powerful with every century that they 'live.' The older a vampire is, the more powerful he or she becomes. A purely human vampire hunter would be better served fighting a young vampire, who is still quite weak by vampire standards, than trying to take on an older vampire."

"Fortunately, ye demon whore, I am quite different from th' typical vampire hunter," a heavily accented Scottish voice spoke, prompting the Titans to turn in his direction. What they saw was a tall pale blond man with a heavy jaw and a scar on his face. He was dressed in a gray overcoat on top of a priest's clothes and a crucifix hung from his neck. Round glasses shielded green eyes that glittered with holy malice.

"Who are you and how did you get into the Tower?" Cyborg asked.

"Your security is not that good," the priestly man replied. "As tae my name, it is Paladin Alexander Anderson."

"Judas Priest," Robin spoke.

"Ye've been in contact with Alucard, haven't ye?" Anderson deduced. He flicked his wrists and a bayonet slid out of each sleeve of his coat and into his hands. "My mission here is tae exterminate th' demon filth an' those that side with them without leaving anything behind." He crossed his bayonets in the shape of a crucifix. "AMEN!"

Anderson charged at Robin with a speed that one would never expect from a pure human. In fact, he was so fast that only Robin and Kid Flash could see him coming. Robin dodged Anderson's charge by flipping into the air and throwing Birdarangs at the priest, who sliced the Birdarangs in half. Undeterred, Robin kicked off a wall and leaped at Anderson, meeting him halfway with a fierce kick to the head. The Dark Squire dropped onto his hands, spun on them, and flipped onto his feet to make a heel thrust with his hand at Anderson's chest.

This time, Anderson grabbed Robin's wrist and threw him into the wall with surprising strength. Robin quickly recovered and extended the blade from his shadow-matter arm. He lunged at Anderson and slashed, only for Anderson to block with his bayonets. Robin pushed his knee upward and into Anderson's stomach with superhuman force. Anderson's response was to push Robin back with his bayonets, pinning Robin to the wall and stabbing him in the hands – both flesh-and-blood and shadow-matter – with those bayonets.

"Robin!" Starfire exclaimed and shot Anderson with her starbolts. Addressing the priest, "You are a bad man!"

"And ye are a bad lass for siding with this monster," Anderson retorted, drawing two more bayonets and charging her with them. A black barrier materialized between Starfire and Anderson, preventing him from slicing Starfire in half. "If it isn't the demon whore."

Jericho gritted his teeth in rage and lunged at Anderson, his eyes flashing black-and-green. He was attempting to possess the priest, but the priest's glasses blocked the direct eye contact necessary for the possession. Anderson quickly sheathed one of his bayonets and used his now-free hand to grab Jericho by the wrist and slam him to the ground. Jericho's response was to kick Anderson, but Anderson did not seem much deterred by the kick. The priest held his remaining bayonet up in preparation to kill the mute boy.

"Ye have th' face o' a cherub," he complimented. "Too bad ye're in love with a demon."

Jericho's response was to thrust his free hand at Anderson's glasses, attempting to remove them so he could possess him. Anderson merely pinned Jericho's other hand, leaving him helpless. Suddenly, he glowed black and was lifted off Jericho by an invisible force, then thrown into a wall. Anderson quickly recovered, yelling, "Demon wench! I'll –"

The priest was cut off by a crimson energy fist slamming into him, followed by a purple-booted roundhouse kick and a sonic blast. He collapsed on the floor, seemingly done for. "Is that it?" Kid Flash asked. "Did we beat him?"

Kid Flash got his answer when Anderson got up again. "Guess not." He charged Anderson at super-speed, attacking him with a flurry of punches thrown at superhuman velocities and from multiple sides. Anderson rolled with those blows, waiting for an opening, and when he found one, he quite viciously took it, stabbing Kid Flash in the leg with a bayonet. Kid Flash collapsed in pain.

The next thing Anderson knew, he had been stabbed by his own bayonets, one protruding from his stomach and the other from his chest. "What?!" The priest turned around, finding a very incensed Robin in front of him.

"Raven, heal Kid Flash," Robin ordered. "The Judas Priest is mine."

Anderson pulled his bayonets out of his chest and stomach, yelling an enraged battle cry and charging at Robin. The Dark Squire dodged the bayonets and slid to kick Anderson's feet out from under him. Unfortunately, Anderson jumped out of the way and pulled out more bayonets from inside his coat, throwing them all at Robin, who rolled out of the way and onto his feet. Anderson rushed Robin again, only this time, Robin grabbed him and spun, drawing the older man's momentum into himself and channeling it into a powerful throw that sent him crashing through the supposedly shatterproof window and to his very probable death.

"Robin!" Cyborg yelled in horror. "What the fuck was that?!"

Robin couldn't answer; he didn't even intend to throw Anderson that hard. Of course, he should have known better; if he had enough strength to easily pull out of Starfire's hugs, he could easily kill a human. Within minutes, though, to both his relief and consternation, the doors to the living-slash-ops room of Titans Tower were sliced apart and a very healthy (and very angry) Alexander Anderson stepped in.

"What is this bloke?" Argent asked in horror. "How did he survive that?"

"Like I told th' demon whore, I'm not a typical vampire hunter," Anderson sneered.

"Fast healer, aren't you?" Robin remarked.

"Aye," Anderson answered. "A technique created by humans tae fight monsters like ye."

He rushed Robin with his bayonets and Robin ran at him with his shadow blade extended. The two met over the couch and slashed at each other viciously. Anderson sliced the couch in half trying to get at a dodging Robin and Robin dragged his blade across the floor slicing upward at Anderson. Anderson pulled out even more bayonets and stabbed Robin with them while the Dark Squire was too close to dodge. One pierced his eye and went straight into his brain, while another pierced his neck and the other four went through his shoulders and chest.

Anderson threw the severely wounded Robin onto the floor in full sight of the other Titans, reveling in their looks of horror and sorrow. "There! Do ye see? Th' likes o' ye can never overcome one such as me!"

Beast Boy lunged at Anderson as a cheetah, ready to avenge his leader and friend. Anderson easily dodged and was ready to slice Beast Boy apart when he suddenly found himself dodging one of his own bayonets. To the vampire-hunting priest's surprise, he heard laughter emanating from Robin's battered body. The other Titans were surprised, too, considering the wounds Robin had received. Anderson looked down and saw that one of the bayonets was missing and the others were removing themselves from Robin's body. To the priest's horror, even more of Robin's body was now taken up by the quasi-organic metal that his shadow-matter had hardened into. The eye that had been so grievously injured by the priest's bayonet was now replaced by luridly glowing shadow-matter.

Robin sprang up and kicked Anderson across the room. As Anderson flew across the room, Robin sped up behind him and struck him again, sending him across the room again from a different angle. This time, Anderson landed on his feet snarling. He threw more bayonets at Robin, but Robin manifested his shadow blade and sliced them all apart while speeding at Anderson. He rammed Anderson with the shoulder of his shadow-matter arm, which sprouted a shoulder guard with spikes that pierced the priestly vampire hunter in the stomach. Anderson took the opportunity to stab Robin with a bayonet, but Robin ripped it out and sliced Anderson with it.

Anderson snarled at Robin and punched him across the room. Robin somersaulted in midair and landed on his feet, smiling darkly at Anderson. As the two fought, the other Titans watched with horror at what seemed to be a contest between a mad angel and an equally mad demon.

"They're . . . ripping each other apart." Cyborg was beside himself.

Beast Boy was gaping at Robin. "Dude, I knew Robin could be scary, but with those powers . . ."

Finally, Anderson jumped away from Robin. "How is it that ye're able tae heal from my bayonets?"

Robin sneered at the priestly vampire hunter. "What, were those weapons supposed to have some kind of divine blessing? Read the memo! I have a goddess inside me, and that's plenty of protection against 'divine' power."

Anderson pulled out a heavy Bible from his coat and flipped it to the center. The pages began to fly out of the book and swirl around Anderson. "I see . . . ye'll be a difficult kill, just like Alucard. I'm looking forward tae it . . . and next time, I'll butcher ye all." The pages then disappeared, taking Anderson with them.

"Fuck . . ." Beast Boy uttered. "Is this what we're gonna spend the rest of our lives dealing with? Super-powered lunatics who want Robin dead because he's a vampire?"

"If that's too much for you to deal with, the door's that way," Argent pointed out, assisted by Raven's reproachful expression.

"Chill, Argent, that's not what I'm saying at all," Beast Boy defended. "I'm just saying I'm scared! You saw how tough that Anderson freak was!"

"We are all scared for Robin, Beast Boy," Starfire stated. "But we cannot flee and cower. Robin is our friend and has risked himself again and again on our behalf. We must be willing to do no less."

Robin suddenly collapsed on one knee. "Robin!" Argent exclaimed, moving to his side.

_As powerful as you are, it is not without its limits,_ L'andira spoke in Robin's thoughts. _There is only so much you can heal from without drinking blood._

"I can't," he muttered. "I won't. I won't become some fucking parasite that preys on the living just to survive."

Argent leaned forward, having been close enough to hear what Robin said, and whispered in his ear, "What if you didn't have to prey on the living? What if someone was willing to give you their blood?"

"Who?" Robin hissed, self-loathing clear in his voice. "Who would be willing to do such a thing for me?"

"Me," Argent replied.

Robin stared at Argent with one masked eye and one shadow-matter eye. "Do you understand the magnitude of what you're suggesting? If I lose control, I could kill you."

"I trust you," Argent whispered. "I trust you."

Robin looked over at the other Titans. "Could you give us some privacy?"

Understanding what Robin meant, Raven looked at him with a wary smile on her face and turned to walk out of the living room-slash-ops room. The other Titans followed her, Jericho sticking particularly close to her. If Raven noticed, she didn't seem to mind; in fact, Robin could have sworn that she had moved a smidgen closer to the mute boy.

With their privacy assured, and Robin could tell because he wasn't hearing any heartbeats or breathing directly outside the room, the Dark Squire rose to his feet, Argent helping him up. Once they were both standing, Argent reached up behind her and unfastened her collar, putting it aside and baring her neck to Robin. "How do we do this?" she asked. "Standing, or lying on what's left of the couch?"

"You talk like we're going to . . ." Robin started, only to find himself unable to finish the sentence.

"Going to what?" Argent prompted, holding her hands behind her back and tilting her head cutely. "You can say it, Robin."

Robin sighed and pulled Argent closer to him. Following L'andira's silent promptings and instructions, he placed his flesh-and-blood hand – which he'd bared – on the back of her neck and used his fingers to massage the muscles gently. Argent let out a small sigh of contentment and leaned into his embrace. Once her body relaxed enough, Robin tilted her chin up with his thumb and began to lick her neck. His tongue brushed the silvery-pale skin, eliciting another sigh from Argent.

_It's time,_ L'andira urged. _Take her._

Robin was in no mood to argue. Argent's heartbeat and pulse thundered in his ears, making him acutely aware of the life-giving crimson fluid in her veins. He found the vein in her neck and bit down, piercing the skin. He pulled his fangs out so as not to obstruct the flow of blood and began to drink said blood. As he drank, his sensitive ears caught a moan from Argent. The surprising thing was that it didn't sound like she was in pain; no, it sounded like she was _enjoying_ what he was doing to her.

_Surprised, my beautiful, naïve container?_ L'andira asked. _Don't be. A vampire's bite, once the initial pain of penetration is past, is often very pleasurable to those bitten. Do you smell that fragrant musk? That is the scent of her arousal, of her pleasure._

To Robin's surprise, he found himself growing hard from hearing Argent's moans and from drinking her blood. She reached up to pull him closer as he drank her life essence, shifting her hips against him. As much as he wanted to remain in her embrace forever, he knew he couldn't, not unless he wanted to kill her. Clamping down on his lust (both for her blood and for her body), he pulled away from her and watched as the wound he had made healed, leaving behind only tiny marks as proof of what he'd done.

He looked upon Argent's face, seeing a sated, happy expression. It was the expression of a woman who had been carnally gratified by her lover. He could see it clearly now, why she had been so willing to give him her blood. It was in the memories he'd absorbed when he drank from her.

She loved him. It was really that simple. She had hidden feelings of that nature, more than the simple infatuation it had started as when she first met him, those feelings that had remained hidden because it was unofficial "fact" among the teenaged heroes that Robin belonged to Starfire or Raven. Well, he didn't belong to either one of them. He didn't belong to Starfire because Starfire had recoiled whenever faced with the darker side of his nature. He didn't belong to Raven because she was more spiritual kin than potential lover to him.

There was one way he could demonstrate that fact to her and it would be more expressive than mere words. He kissed her, kissed her with lips stained red with her own blood. She didn't pull away, simply returned the kiss fervently. As they kissed, she sucked his tongue into her mouth. To her, he tasted of copper and something indefinable by her mortal taste buds. To him, she tasted of honey and red licorice.

"Whoa," Argent murmured once the kiss broke. "You sure know how to kiss a girl."

"Thanks," Robin replied. "Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Argent answered, smiling. "Yeah. I'd love to."

"It's a date, then," Robin said. He caught Argent looking at him strangely. "What's wrong?"

"Your arm," Argent replied, drawing Robin's attention to his arm. Said arm was flesh and blood again, instead of the shadow-matter that had grown in its place. She was looking at the eye that was exposed by his damaged mask and it was healed, too, a real eye instead of glowing shadow-matter. "I kinda liked it the other way."

"Considering what I'm probably in for, you might see it again," Robin remarked sardonically.

Argent chuckled slightly nervously. "Not that I'd want you getting your arm shot off again."

* * *

Somewhere else in Jump City, Alexander Anderson had phoned someone. "Th' damned hell-brat is stronger than I expected."

On the other end, a tall, thin man with silver-blond hair and violet-blue eyes listened to Anderson, pondering. "Is he like Hellsing's hunting dog?"

"Worse. He healed from my bayonets. No vampire should be able tae do that."

The silver-blond man, none other than Enrico Maxwell, leader of Iscariot, had an expression of trepidation. "The power of his heathen god protects him from the blessings of our Lord. Fear not, Anderson; we will find a way to slay this beast."

"What about th' beast's friends, particularly th' demon whore?"

"We will kill them, too. Vampires and those who ally with such filth all stand equal in the eyes of God; sinful dirty heathens to a man."

* * *

The next night, Robin was in his room preparing for his date with Argent. It was relatively simple; the shadow-matter that his clothes were constructed from merely rearranged itself into what he wanted to wear. Currently, he was wearing a chrome-shouldered black leather jacket over a black sleeveless shirt with no insignia and his pants and boots had not changed at all. However, his standard utility belt was gone, replaced by one that was not quite as obvious.

He exited his room to find Argent, only to find her making her way toward him. She wore a different corset than her usual, this one exposing some cleavage and split in the middle to reveal web-like netting between the two halves. She also wore a red skirt with an overskirt of netting designed to resemble connected spider webs. Fishnet socks with black shoes covered her feet, the fishnets rising up to her knees. The only part of her outfit that hadn't changed was the arm-covers.

"Stunning," Robin breathed out.

"You're certainly looking dashing," Argent commented.

"Ready to go?"

"Whenever you are."

As the two departed from Titans Tower, they were unknowingly observed by Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Kid Flash. "Whoa . . . Robin and Argent," Cyborg remarked. "Who would have thought?"

"Isn't Star going to be pissed?" Beast Boy asked.

"Let her be," Kid Flash answered nonchalantly. "Robin has the right to go with whoever he feels like going with."

"You both have good points," Cyborg said. "Yeah, Starfire will be pissed, but it's not like Robin's her property."

"I don't want to be around when she finds out," Beast Boy said.

* * *

Robin took Argent to his R-Cycle and straddled it. As soon as he touched the handlebars, shadow-matter extended from his hands and coated the motorcycle. It soon faded to reveal what looked like a scarlet Kawasaki Ninja. "You can get on now," he said.

"Cool," Argent remarked, sitting behind Robin and wrapping her arms around his waist. Robin put on his helmet and handed a spare one to her, which she donned. Robin started up the motorcycle and rode away from Titans Tower, soon reaching the open streets.

Robin rode at a respectable speed, trying not to go that much higher than 60 or 65 mph. Their destination was a dance club Argent liked to frequent, one called "Crimson Tears." The club was famous for goth-influenced electronic music, a.k.a. "electrogoth," and melodic gothic rock, a.k.a. "death pop." Given Argent's fashion inclinations and attitude, it sounded like something up her alley.

Of course, it wasn't as though the two could go unmolested. Along the way, Robin sensed that someone was following them and dong so very quickly. Robin cracked the throttle on his disguised R-Cycle and moved even faster, expertly weaving the motorcycle between the cars in his path.

"What's going on?" Argent asked.

"Someone's following us," Robin replied.

The sound of bullets being fired rang through the air, Robin telekinetically deflecting said bullets. Robin rode like a madman, Argent clinging to him for dear life. He rode onto a bridge and turned quickly, leaping off the bridge and onto the street below. Despite that, his mysterious pursuer was not deterred, judging by the scent of burning rubber behind him.

"Screw this," Robin muttered, making a sharp turn and riding at his pursuer. Robin could see his pursuer clearly despite the darkness, a dark-haired young man in black leather with deathly white skin and pointed ears. The pursuer's vehicle was a motorcycle similar to Robin's, only black instead of red.

The two rode at each other, Robin removing one of his hands from the handlebar. His free arm was ensconced in shadow-matter that hardened into the selfsame semi-organic silver-black metal. A blade extended from that arm and he moved to slash the dark motorcyclist, who unfortunately swerved out of the way. Robin merely swerved his R-Cycle and went after his pursuer again. Said pursuer turned and rode at Robin, who slashed at him with his shadow-matter blade.

The mysterious pursuer was cut by Robin's shadow-matter blade, but that hardly seemed to matter to him as he struck Robin in the chest with his hand. Surprisingly enough, the strike actually hurt Robin, leaving burning marks in his chest that had partially dissolved his shirt. Additionally, the strike had come with enough force behind it to knock Robin and Argent off the R-Cycle. Robin rolled to land on his front, taking the brunt of the fall so that Argent didn't have to.

Robin and Argent got up, both not exactly very happy about what had happened to them and that was an understatement. The mysterious pursuer stopped his motorcycle and got off. Now that Robin and Argent could get a better look at him, they could see that he was wearing some kind of gauntlets. The mysterious pursuer twisted his wrists and short blades came out of the backs of his gauntlets.

"Who the fuck do you think you are and what do you think you're doing?" Argent asked.

"The name's Dagon," the mysterious pursuer replied, "and your boyfriend's getting a one-way ticket to hell."

"You first," Robin answered, charging Dagon, who met him with one of his wrist blades. The two began battling, Argent following them to assist Robin in case he needed. The two dark warriors leaped about the tunnel, attacking and evading. Dagon slashed Robin with his wrist blades and Robin retaliated by stabbing Dagon with his shadow-matter blade. The two jumped away from each other, healing from the wounds they'd inflicted on one another.

"I'm getting sick and tired of having people coming after me just because I'm a vampire," Robin snarled. "Why are you after me?"

"Why should I tell you that?" Dagon answered. "The important thing is that you're going to die."

Robin's response to that was to run up the tunnel wall and jump off from the ceiling, spraying Dagon with shuriken. Some of the shuriken managed to slice Dagon, but Dagon healed from those and dodged most of the others. However, they were just a cover for Robin to tackle him to the ground. Robin thrust his blade at Dagon, but Dagon chopped Robin's arm, throwing off his aim and allowing Dagon to knock Robin off him.

Robin rolled onto his feet and withdrew six Birdarangs from his utility belt, holding them between his fingers. He threw them all at Dagon, who sliced through them with his wrist blades while rushing Robin. The Dark Squire blocked his attack and delivered a vicious kick to the other young man's side. Dagon trapped Robin's leg against his side and punched the Dark Squire, retracting his wrist blade at the last second. Robin flew back into the wall of the tunnel, denting it.

Crimson energy birds flew at Dagon, slashing him with their wings. "The plasma shifter," he concluded, turning to attack Argent, who blocked with an energy shield. Dagon didn't give up, retracting his wrist blades and thrusting a white-hot hand through Argent's shield, striking her right where her anarchy tattoo was. Argent fell back with a cry of pain.

"Argent!" Robin shouted, infuriated by what Dagon had done to her. He sped toward Dagon, only for Dagon to elbow him at approximately the same speed with which Robin charged him. The force of the elbow jab propelled Robin into the other side of the tunnel, denting it. Robin fell to the street and rose to his feet, spoiling to resume the fight.

Meanwhile, Argent had pulled out her communicator, which she'd taken the liberty of repainting black and red, and flipped it open. "Argent to Titans. Robin and I need backup. We're under attack."

"We're on our way, Argent," Raven answered. "Raven out."

"I just hope you get here before this bloke wastes me and Robin," Argent muttered.

* * *

End Notes: And thus I have finished the second chapter of this story. Where did Dagon come from? Why is he after Robin? As for Anderson, those of you who read the Hellsing manga or have watched the TV series and/or Ultimate OVA ought to know who he and Enrico Maxwell are. For those of you who've read the manga, Millennium is on its way. In the meantime, questions, tips, critiques, and comments are welcome.

Final note: Trouble in Tokyo never happened in this universe. The events of all five seasons of the TV series happened, but never the events of the movie. That's how I can write Robin and Argent as a couple, as inspired by my and Dark Charaxes' musings and fics. Those of you who are diehard Robin/Starfire fans, bring it on. I'm not afraid of you. Everyone else, you're free to keep on reading.


	3. Distant Sun

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 3: "Distant Sun"

Disclaimer: Neither Teen Titans nor Hellsing belong to me. The former is the property of DC Comics and Warner Brothers and the latter belongs to Kohta Hirano.

Author's note: I've gotten some feedback speculating as to who Dagon could be working for and trust me, my good fellow, it is not the organization whose name starts with M. I've also gotten some feedback that has been somewhat critical of me for using the original Hellsing manga and its OVA adaptation as the template for the versions of the Hellsing characters that appear here. Since I'm more familiar with the manga and Ultimate OVA, that's what I'm basing the Hellsing part of this crossover on. By the way, if you weren't utterly turned off this story by the fact that I paired Robin with Argent, I thank you. As for those of you who are Robin/Starfire fans, I will deal with that pairing in this chapter.

* * *

Robin suddenly found himself trapped in a five-pronged "cage" of sword-shaped energy. Dagon zoomed from one prong to the next, picking up an energy sword at each point and slashing Robin with it on the pass. As he moved, Robin's sight was acute enough to detect that Dagon's movements were forming a pentagram. Still, he wasn't quite fast enough to stop Dagon from slashing him with the energy swords he picked up. Robin collapsed onto one knee, severely wounded by Dagon's attack.

"Ready to die now?" Dagon asked.

"No, how about you?" Robin snarled in response, his wounds quickly healing themselves. He moved so quickly that he seemed to vanish to Argent's eyes, reappearing behind Dagon and aiming a chop at a nerve cluster in the back of his neck. Dagon reacted faster than Robin expected, grabbing Robin by his wrist and swinging him over his shoulder. Robin twisted the rest of his body into a kick that sent Dagon flying into one of the tunnel walls.

Dagon braced himself against the tunnel wall, preparing to attack again when he was surprised by Robin suddenly appearing in front of him. His eyes opened wide in shock and amazement . . . and closed when Robin punched him hard enough to knock him unconscious. That lasted all of five seconds, however, as Dagon caught Robin's leg between his feet and rolled, throwing Robin off-balance. Robin quickly recovered and flipped back onto his feet, facing a risen Dagon.

Shadow matter began to consume Robin's body, hardening into the quasi-organic silver-black metal. Robin's arm, leg, and side were covered by the shadow matter, as was part of his face. A bloodthirsty smirk found its way onto Robin's face and he vanished, reappearing in front of Dagon with a vicious kick to his chest. Robin zoomed toward the unwillingly flying Dagon, stopping behind him and kicking him in the opposite direction. Robin whooshed underneath Dagon and shot himself upward legs first to kick Dagon into the ceiling of the tunnel. As Dagon fell, Robin struck him hard in the back, accelerating his opponent's descent.

Dagon rolled onto his back and struck a descending Robin with burning hands, sending Robin flying back. Robin flipped backward and landed in a crouch. Dagon climbed onto his feet and zoomed at Robin, but Robin grabbed his wrist and slammed him into the tunnel wall. With the hand that was covered in hardened shadow matter, Robin projected a knife blade and moved to punch Dagon in the head, only to be stopped by a red construct from Argent.

"What are you doing?" Robin asked dangerously.

"Stopping you from doing something you'll regret," Argent replied. "You're not a killer. Don't let L'andira make you one."

Robin dropped Dagon and collapsed onto his knee. He gritted his teeth, forcing the shadow matter to change back into normal shadow and withdraw back into him. The effort was enough to take much of his strength, evinced by the way he panted for breath. Dagon looked at him in surprise.

"You spared me," he spoke.

"I'm not a killer," Robin replied.

It was at that moment that the other Titans arrived. "You two all right?" Cyborg asked Robin and Argent.

"We're fine, Cy," Argent replied.

"This the guy who was attacking you?" Beast Boy asked. "He doesn't look so tough."

"He's tougher than you think," Robin answered.

"Thanks for the compliment," Dagon grumbled, rising to his feet.

"Anytime you're ready," Robin challenged.

"No," Dagon replied. "Not now. Later." He then departed at such incredible speed that Robin and Kid Flash were the only ones able to see his retreat.

"You're scared of something," Raven said to Robin.

"Yeah," Robin confirmed, rising to his feet.

"Was he a vampire, too?" Kid Flash asked.

"I do not think so," Starfire replied. "He smelled similar to Robin, but he also smelled similar to Anderson."

"That would be because he's a dhampir," Raven explained. "Born of the union of a vampire and a human. When found, they're usually trained to use their vampiric abilities to hunt and kill full vampires."

Robin sensed an outpouring of sadness from L'andira, enough to make blood tears seep out of his eyes. "L'andira?" he wondered.

_All vampires are my children, even the half-bloods,_ L'andira answered. _To see them used as weapons by humans . . . it's monstrous._

Robin could also sense sadness from Raven, as Dagon's circumstances probably reminded her of what her fate could have been if she'd been found by someone other than the Titans. He noticed Jericho gently placing his hand on her shoulder and Raven relaxing into his touch. As he watched them, he spotted Argent moving toward him, gently touching his arm once she was within his reach.

"They'd be pretty great together, wouldn't they?" Argent whispered, low enough so that only his sensitive ears caught it.

"Yeah," Robin whispered back.

"We might have to 'help' a bit, if you know what I'm saying," Argent murmured mischievously.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Huh . . ."

"Joey's too shy and Raven's too stubborn," Argent went on. "They won't get together on their own."

"We could always try something out of Shakespeare," Robin mused. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted Starfire's jealous expression. He locked eyes with the Tamaranean princess. "Starfire, we'll talk when we get back to the Tower."

* * *

Robin kept his word, waiting until they returned to Titans Tower to speak to Starfire. Once they were there, he gently guided her into a corridor so they could talk in private. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"You and Argent . . . you seemed very close," Starfire replied. "Are you doing the dating?"

"We were about to," Robin admitted.

"Why?" Starfire asked. "Am I not your girlfriend?"

"Not exactly," Robin replied.

"But you have known how I feel about you," Starfire protested. "And you have led me to believe that you feel the same!"

"I did . . . and in some ways, I still do," Robin confessed. "But it would never have worked between us. You need someone who can give everything they are – body, heart, and soul – to you the way you were willing to for me. I can't do that, Starfire. No matter how hard I try, there will always be parts of me that I have to keep away from you and a relationship like that would be unbearable for both of us."

"If you are referring to the demons of the inside, could you not embrace me?" Starfire asked. "Could you not allow me to do the exorcism and give you peace?"

"Maybe," Robin replied, "but then I couldn't be who I am. When I became Robin, that identity was forged by my inner demons. Without them, I wouldn't be who I am today. I wouldn't have the strength to confront the evils that stalk the streets at night. I won't ask you to forgive me or to stop loving me . . . but I only ask that you let me go and allow me to find the happiness with Argent that you wanted me to find with you."

Starfire nodded, despite the tears streaming down her face. Robin gently wiped them away. "I'm sorry," he whispered, before walking away from Starfire and retreating to his own room. He touched his face and found blood staining his fingers. It was his tears, tainted by the life-giving elixir.

"Robin," a voice greeted him, carrying an aura of power and wisdom. Robin looked up and saw a man garbed in skintight blue with golden gloves, boots, belt, cape, and helm.

"Fate," Robin greeted.

The sorcerer known as Dr. Fate regarded Robin. "I sensed the rising of a dark power some nights ago. I was only recently able to pinpoint it. I suspected it was your teammate Raven, but the power felt different from her aura."

"What's your interest here?"

"Your well-being. The entity inside you is not purely benevolent."

"Considering she tried to make me kill my opponent, I already know that."

"Do you? You do not know the full extent of her life before she was cut off from her followers and exiled to the Silent Realm. If you are not wary, she will come to dominate you."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"For now, your relationship appears to be symbiotic, but be careful to retain your own will and trust that above hers."

"Wait, what is the Silent Realm?"

"The only realm that can safely hold a deity of her rank and power. Farewell, Robin. I will see you again shortly." An ankh-shaped portal formed behind Dr. Fate and he stepped inside, the portal vanishing as soon as he'd entered.

* * *

With his would-be date with Argent wrecked, Robin decided to take some time for himself. He went out into the city, mostly anonymous since he was dressed in normal clothes and not wearing his standard mask. Instead of riding his R-Cycle, he walked through the city, blending with the passersby. He drank in the sights, the sounds, and the smells, all so bright and clear and fragrant to his senses.

He was so busy indulging his superhuman senses that he didn't notice that he'd wandered into a less-populated area of the city. The buildings had a neo-gothic design, like a modernized version of something out of Victorian horror. He looked around, aware of his new surroundings yet continuing to walk about as though he wasn't concerned. In fact, he almost felt as though he was home, feeling the presence of others similar to him.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only thing he sensed. He also sensed terror and something else . . . fanatical, murderous determination. He'd only gotten that feeling from one person since L'andira had been sealed inside him.

"Anderson," Robin muttered and took off in a fast run. When he got there, he found Anderson gleefully slaughtering several vampires, none of them physically older than 21. These were not hardened killers, just neophytes who were trying their best to survive, Robin could tell. And Anderson was killing them anyway, just because they weren't human.

Robin reached into his disguised utility belt and withdrew a Razorbird, a sharper-edged version of the Birdarang, throwing it at Anderson. The Razorbird sliced his cheek open, distracting the priestly vampire hunter from the young vampires. Anderson whirled to see who had wounded him, spotting Robin catching the bloodied Razorbird.

"Ye again," Anderson snarled.

"Yeah, me," Robin confirmed, placing the Razorbird and two others like it between his fingers. "Now leave them alone."

"Why should I do that?" Anderson asked. "They're demon scum, much like you and the harlot on your team."

"Don't you dare call Raven that!" Robin yelled, lunging at Anderson with Razorbirds clenched between his fingers. Anderson dodged Robin's initial attack, only for Robin to quickly recover and spin for another slash at Anderson. This time, he succeeded in slashing Anderson's chest. Anderson's response was to hurl his bayonets at Robin, which Robin dodged with superhuman alacrity. Anderson sprung at Robin, knocking him into an alley wall.

Robin rose to his feet and flung all three Razorbirds at Anderson, which Anderson simply cut through with his bayonets. He slashed at Robin with the bayonets, Robin backhandedly slapping Anderson's bayonets aside and kicking him in the stomach. Anderson quickly recovered, the wounds he had been dealt finally sealing themselves, and rushing Robin. The Dark Squire flung himself back to evade Anderson's charge and reached into his belt, removing more Razorbirds and throwing them at Anderson, who again sliced through them with his bayonets.

Robin landed and threw a multitude of shuriken at Anderson, who could not dodge every one of them. The shuriken he couldn't dodge left numerous cuts on him, which quickly healed, but the shuriken attack had been a smokescreen for Robin to slide past Anderson's defenses and knock him down.

"Stay away from them, Anderson," he snarled.

"Damned brat," Anderson spat, using the pages of his Bible to teleport away again.

"Whoa . . ." one of the young vampires uttered. "You . . . you're Robin, aren't you?"

"And how do you figure that?" Robin asked.

"Those weapons, and the way you fought," the young vampire replied. "But who turned you? I've never seen any vampire that strong before."

"It's a long story," Robin answered.

"Come on," another young vampire said. "We'll take you inside. Not everyday there's a vampire superhero."

* * *

Robin allowed the young vampires to escort him into one of the buildings. Inside was a large dancehall with a bar area off to the side and tables arranged around the dancehall. Higher up was a glass partition behind which a vampire was playing disk jockey. Death pop blasted from the wall speakers as the young men and women in the dancehall moved to the beat. Red, blue, and purple lights flashed intermittently, illuminating the dancers occasionally.

"Is this some kind of nightclub for vampires?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," one of the young vampires replied. "Very exclusive. The only way a human can get in here is if they're accompanied by a vampire." She escorted Robin to the bar area and they sat on a couple of stools. "Bartender. Give hero-boy a cup of O+."

The bartender quickly poured a cup of O+ blood and passed it to Robin. "Thanks," Robin said.

"Think nothing of it," the bartender replied, winking at Robin and eliciting a blush from the Dark Squire.

Robin took a sip of the cup of blood and a flush found its way to his cheeks. "This . . . this is good."

"I know," the young vampire next to him said. "Don't drink too much, though; blood can be as much of an intoxicant to us as alcohol is to humans."

"I'll keep that in mind," Robin said just before sipping again. "What's your name?"

"Mai," the young vampire replied.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Robin asked.

"Running on five years," Mai replied. "I'm really 24."

"What's it like, living as a vampire?" Robin asked.

"Lonely," Mai replied. "I don't get to be with my human friends anymore. I can visit them, watch over them, but I can't let them see me. I can't be with them anymore."

"Why not?" Robin asked.

"Unless some vampire hunter – like that freaky priest – gets me, I'll live forever," Mai explained. "They'll die eventually. According to my sire, it's better that I cut myself off from them now so that it won't hurt too much."

Robin pondered Mai's words. Some of his friends would live longer than others, and Raven might live indefinitely due to being half demon, but Mai was right. He would be in for a lonely existence. He sipped his blood again, hearing the beginning of a creepy xylophone melody. About thirty seconds later, it stopped and was replaced by a demonic-sounding guitar melody combined with a driving drumbeat. About thirty seconds after that, the unearthly voice of a woman could be heard singing.

At that moment, another of the young vampires accompanying Mai approached Robin. "You mind coming to the back room?" he asked the Dark Squire.

"Why?" Robin asked.

"The guy who runs this club," he replied. "He's one of the clan higher-ups. He'd like to see you."

"Take me to him, then," Robin said, allowing the young vampire to escort him to the back room. Once inside, the young vampire left the two alone.

Robin observed the club owner. He was seemingly twenty-six, but his eyes were that of someone who was much, much older. He had long black hair tied back in a ponytail and clear silver eyes staring out from a face that many would have found almost beautiful. He wore a black cloak with a collar so large that it covered his mouth and nose, the cloak itself concealing most of his body.

"Robin," the club owner greeted him.

"Why did you want to see me?" Robin asked.

"Ah, no pleasantries," the club owner mused. "I'd be hurt if I didn't much care for pleasantries myself. Very well, I asked for you on behalf of the clan leaders in this city. They want to meet with you."

"And why would they be so interested in me?" Robin asked.

"Don't play dumb, Grayson," the club owner spat. "You have the progenitor of our race inside you. That has the potential to change the balance of power in the vampire community. This has the local clan leaders, as well as the clan leaders all over this nation, very worried. Centuries of planning, possibly torpedoed by a wild card such as you. That, to put it frankly, scares them."

"How do you know my real name?"

"How do I explain this one? Good old-fashioned detective work. It starts with your mentor Batman, a.k.a. Bruce Wayne. How do I know Batman is Bruce Wayne? For one thing, someone with all those fancy toys would need to be extremely rich – by human standards – and besides, a lot of Batman's equipment is based on technology developed by Wayne Enterprises. As for you, Dickie-Bird, an orphaned acrobat is adopted by Wayne. Shortly after that, a kid in hideous red-and-green tights is flipping around fighting criminals alongside Batman. Then that kid moves here and starts up his own superhero team with a bunch of other colorful kids, while Wayne tells everyone Grayson went to boarding school."

Robin could not quite conceal his surprise, which the club owner noticed and smirked at. "I have to hand it to the Bat. His playboy act fools a lot of people, but most of those people are fucking sheep who can't think past their own little boxes. And you hardly go out as Grayson in this city, anyway."

"What do they want with me?"

"You'll see. As soon as I take you to them."

"When will that be?"

"Now."

The club owner pulled out a small remote reminiscent of the ones attached to car keys and pressed a button on it. Immediately, a section of the wall retracted, revealing a hidden entrance. He stepped inside, beckoning Robin to follow. Robin followed the club owner down the hidden stairway, finding his way into a lightless tunnel. Fortunately for him, he didn't need light to see.

* * *

The club owner escorted Robin through the tunnel, guiding him to another stairway, which they ascended to a luxuriously decorated torch-lit chamber. Artwork from various eras decorated the walls, while velvet carpets covered the floor. A raised mahogany crescent table sat at the far side of the chamber, with seven vampires – Robin could tell by their scent – sitting behind it. There were four women and three men sitting at the table, all seemingly young yet carrying expressions that spoke of centuries, if not millennia, of experience. All of them were garbed in black robe-like coats, each wearing a sash of a different color to distinguish themselves from each other.

"Richard John Grayson," the central vampire – wearing a blood-red sash – spoke. "Or are you more comfortable with Robin?"

"Actually, I am," Robin answered. "I don't appreciate having my real name bandied about by strangers."

"You will become very familiar with us soon enough," the red sash-wearing vampire responded.

"Quit being cryptic," Robin spat.

"Defiant one, aren't you?" a vampire in a royal blue sash remarked. "That's fine; I like defiance in my young men. Makes breaking them in even more fun."

Robin glared at the blue sash-wearing vampire. "I don't intend to become part of your harem."

"Too bad," the blue sash-wearing vampire purred.

"Ashurii, that's enough," a vampire in a silver-white sash advised.

"Spoil my fun," Ashurii sneered petulantly.

The red sash-wearing vampire glared at Ashurii. "Disgraceful wench. That is not how you behave in the presence of the one who holds our goddess inside him, no matter how beautiful he is."

"What do you want with me?" Robin asked.

"It's very simple," the red sash-wearing vampire replied. "We want your protection. There is an organization affiliated with this nation's military that has been targeting us. They have killed many of our people and captured many more, using them in experiments to transform their human operatives into superior hunters. You've already met one of those operatives, according to our intelligence."

"You mean Dagon," Robin deduced.

"Yes," the red sash-wearing vampire confirmed. "According to our familiars whom we've managed to slip into this organization, they call themselves the Initiative."

"What do you want me to do about them?" Robin asked.

"We want you to rescue those that have been captured from the Initiative," the red sash-wearing vampire replied. "We also want you to take them into your protective custody. You can use your Tower to house them."

"How am I supposed to find the Initiative?" Robin asked.

"You're a detective," the red sash-wearing vampire answered. "Figure it out."

"Come on," the club owner said to Robin. "I'll take you back to the club."

* * *

End Notes: Might as well end it here. It seems that Robin has a lot on his hands, what with being ordered to break into a military facility to rescue vampires. Will he succeed, and if he does, how will his teammates feel about him using Titans Tower as a refuge for vampires?

By the way, for those of you that watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Initiative's presence does not mean a crossover with that series. It simply means that I'm borrowing the concept from Buffy because I like it. Plus, it'd be fun to have a vampire-hunting organization that's affiliated with the military and not any particular religious denomination.

Anyway, questions, tips, critiques, and comments are all welcome.


	4. Angel's Punishment

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 4: "Angel's Punishment"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing belong to their respective creators/owners, which are DC Comics/Time Warner and Kohta Hirano. I make no profit from this story except the satisfaction of knowing that I've written something good.

Author's note: As you can tell from the last chapter, Robin has become the (unwilling) agent of the leaders in Jump City's vampire community. His first task on their behalf is to stop the Initiative from using vampires in experiments to create superior vampire hunters, but will he succeed? And if he succeeds, will he encounter something worse? To find out, read on.

* * *

Robin returned to the club in a very troubled state. He couldn't believe the nerve of the clan leaders; they thought to order him around as though he was just some neophyte? Well, he was; in spite of his power, he was still new to the world of the nightwalkers. The only thing that prevented him from single-handedly kicking all of their arrogant rear ends was the fact that innocents were in danger.

Yes, innocents. Just because they were undead did not make them truly less human than someone who had not been brought over. In Robin's mind, it was unfair to treat _all_ vampires as though they were evil. That was the only compelling reason he had for deciding to follow the clan leaders' orders. However, he was going to need help; he wasn't so sure he could take on military-upgraded vampire hunters all by himself, especially if they were all like Dagon.

Inside him, L'andira was seething. _How dare she behave that way toward you! I thought the container of my essence would be afforded more respect than to be looked at as yet another to add to her harem! How dare the rest of them treat you like some lowly servant! They should be kneeling before you!_

_I never wanted anyone to kneel before me,_ Robin answered.

_Doesn't matter,_ L'andira replied. _You deserve more respect than those arrogant clan "leaders" have shown you._

_I still have to do this,_ Robin insisted. _The military is using vampires to create superhuman vampire killers. I can't let that happen._

_Very true, but we won't be able to do this by ourselves,_ L'andira replied. _We will need help. Vampire help._

_What about the Titans?_

_We can't get all of them involved. We need stealth. Therefore, we'll take Jericho, Raven, and Kid Flash with us. Raven knows how to be quiet, Jericho can possess others, and Kid Flash has super-speed on his side. On second thought, we can bring in Cyborg, too; his ability to interface with machines will be very useful. The others will hang back as support, although I would be more comfortable bringing in some vampires._

_Who?_

_How about Mai? She comes from a very strong bloodline, I can smell it. And I think we can trust her._

_If you think so._

"Hey, Robin."

_Speak of the devil._ Out loud, "Hey, Mai."

"What happened?"

"I've just been committed to shutting down a military organization that's been using vampires to create dhampir-like vampire hunters. I can do it, but I think I'm going to need your help."

"Sure, but I'm not sure how useful I'll be."

"I'm sure you'll be more useful than you expect. And I'm going to bring in the Titans. Are you fine with that?"

"Sure. I'd like to meet your friends, particularly Raven and Argent. I like their style."

Robin looked at her warily. "As long as you don't go too far with them."

"Who, me?"

Robin sighed. "Let's go."

* * *

The Titans were just hanging out in the living room-slash-ops room, doing various things. Cyborg and Kid Flash were battling each other in a fighting game, with Kid Flash and Cyborg almost even because their abilities allowed for superior reaction times to normal humans. Beast Boy was waiting for one of them to win so he could play, while Starfire cheered them on. Raven was reading _Frankenstein,_ with Jericho reading over her shoulder and Raven surprisingly allowing him to be that close to her. Argent was listening to her iPod, which was currently playing the song "Jester" by Dagger Orchestra.

Starfire was the first to notice that Robin had come back, but he had done so with company. Said company was a girl with blonde hair styled in warrior braids and honey-colored eyes. A black bodice pushed up and emphasized her bosom, while knee-length leather shorts molded to her hips and thighs. Black boots with steel heels and toes completed the ensemble.

"Robin, who is she?" Starfire asked suspiciously.

"She's a friend," Robin replied.

"Hi," the blonde greeted pleasantly. "Nice to meet you all."

"Hey," Cyborg greeted.

"Whoa," Kid Flash uttered. "You're hot."

"I'll tell Jinx you were flirting with other girls again," Raven threatened in an aside. Kid Flash paled and decided to keep his mouth shut.

"I brought her over here because she can help us," Robin said. "There's an organization affiliated with the U.S. military going around kidnapping vampires and using them in experiments to create superhuman vampire hunters."

"That would mean that wanker Dagon wasn't a real dhampir, just a synthesized one," Argent deduced.

"Who better to kill a vampire than someone who has the powers of one?" the blonde added. "By the way, my name's Mai."

"What do we do about these guys?" Beast Boy asked. "No offense, but we're gonna be going up against trained soldiers and not just trained soldiers, but trained soldiers with vampire powers! You think we can take 'em?"

"We're Titans," Robin answered simply.

"And why are we going out of our way to stop the U.S. military from creating vampire hunters?" Kid Flash asked.

Mai glared at him. "Do you have a problem with vampires or something?"

"Other than the fact that they prey on humans for their blood, no," Kid Flash replied sardonically.

"That doesn't make us all psychopathic killers," Mai said. "We do it because we need to. Blood is the only way for us to survive. And by the way, we try our best not to kill humans when we feed."

"Is that supposed to make it better?" Kid Flash asked. "Kill them or not, you're still forcing them to give you their blood."

Robin glared at Kid Flash. "Are you trying to say that vampires deserve to be experimented on against their will? Are you trying to say that they're so inhuman that they deserve that fate? Well . . . are you?"

Kid Flash refused to answer that, but Robin could read the truth in the speedster's heart. The yellow-and-red-clad boy was full of prejudice toward vampires. He thought of them as disgusting predators upon the human race. That saddened Robin deeply, for now he was one of those so-called predators.

"Never mind. I have my answer."

While this was going on, Cyborg was staring at the computer screen. "Hey, Robin, do you know what this organization is called?"

"Hack into the U.S. military computer system and look for 'Initiative.'"

Cyborg followed Robin's orders, slicing through the firewalls the military had put around its computer system. Once he'd torn them down, he searched for "Initiative." When he found it, his organic eye widened. "Holy shit . . ."

"Holy shit what?" Kid Flash asked, speeding to look over Cyborg's massive metallic shoulder. His eyes widened as well. "Aw, fuck."

"What are you blokes going on about?" Argent asked, coming over to see what had made Cyborg and Kid Flash swear like that. Her crimson eyes widened when she saw what they'd seen. "We're not going to let _that_ stand, now are we?"

"Hey, let me see!" Beast Boy said, pushing himself between Cyborg and Argent to reach the computer screen. "Son of a . . ."

"What's going on?" Robin asked.

"You gotta see for yourself," Cyborg replied, his tone expressing all the horror he felt.

Robin walked to the computer screen and looked. At the top of the screen, he saw _Operation: Nightrider._ He looked further, seeing the truth in the old saying, "The devil is in the details." He read reports describing blood-splicing experiments that mixed human blood with vampire blood and injected the solution into human soldiers. Further reports detailed harvesting of vampire organs and spinal fluid as another method of enhancing vampire hunters. There were even reports of vampire-hunting assassins being grown from vampire DNA with human DNA attached. Worst of all, the humans that were being used in these experiments were soldiers found guilty of unbecoming conduct by military tribunals and offered a pardon in exchange for their participation.

The Dark Squire noticed that the other Titans and Mai had gathered around him, seeing what he saw. He heard Mai choke back a sob. "How . . ."

"Goddammit," Kid Flash uttered. "I may have my problems with vampires, but this is fucking awful. I mean, criminals? They're turning criminals into vampire hunters?"

"They have an incentive," Raven answered grimly. "And judging from the psychological profiles of the human subjects, we're dealing with remorseless killers."

"Do we know where they're located?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Cyborg replied. "They're underneath JC Tech."

Robin's clothes shifted back into his costume and he donned his familiar mask, concealing eyes that had completely red-shifted with rage. "Let's go."

* * *

Later on, the Titans were headed for the Initiative facility underneath the JC Institute of Technology. Cyborg drove his T-Car, with Raven, Beast Boy, Jericho, and Mai as his passengers. Starfire and Argent flew, while Kid Flash ran and Robin rode his R-Cycle. Robin was in the lead, riding his motorcycle with the speed and ferocity of a madman. He was moving so fast that he was melting the streets on which he rode his motorcycle and his slipstream was knocking down other vehicles.

"Robin!" Cyborg shouted. "Slow it down; you're tearing the road apart!"

"No, Vic, I will _not_ 'slow it down,'" Robin snarled over the communicator. "These monsters think they can turn sociopaths into vampire killers. We're going to show them what we think of that. Do you have the schematics for the entryway?"

"Yeah," Cyborg replied. "Downloaded them into your communicators."

"All right," Robin said.

_Are we going to kill them?_ L'andira asked. _Please tell me we're going to kill them._

_No, we're not,_ Robin replied. _I told you before, L'andira, I'm not letting you turn me into a murderer, no matter how angry I am._

Robin felt rather than heard L'andira's scream of fury at being denied the blood of her enemies. _We'll shut them down,_ he promised her. _We won't kill them, but we will shut them down._

_We'd better. I'm not letting humans abuse and exploit my children so they can make better killers of my children._

"We're here," Robin said, reaching the entryway and getting off his R-Cycle. "Remember the plan. Cyborg, Raven, Jericho, Kid Flash, and I go in while the rest of you hang back as backup."

"Ok," Beast Boy said.

Starfire and Argent looked at Robin, their expressions saying volumes about how concerned they were for Robin. The Dark Squire merely nodded at them before Cyborg jacked himself into the security system and disabled it. With that done, he, Robin, Raven, Jericho, and Kid Flash entered the Initiative facility.

The five walked down sterilely gleaming white corridors. Robin briefly looked at Kid Flash and Kid Flash nodded once before zooming away. The yellow-and-red-clad speedster returned one minute later and Robin looked at him curiously. Kid Flash looked at him with an appalled expression.

"That bad, huh?" Cyborg asked.

"That bad," Kid Flash confirmed.

"Where's the chamber of horrors where they create their nifty vampire killers?" Raven asked.

"I'll take you there," Kid Flash replied.

"Wait," Robin said, raising a hand. Seconds later, human soldiers poured out from the doors, pointing high-powered rifles at the five.

"Not a step further!" one of the soldiers shouted.

"Or you'll do what?" Robin asked.

The soldiers opened fire, only for a wall of shadows to form in front of the five, blocking the bullets. The shadow wall then "spat" the bullets back out at the soldiers, forcing them to duck. The wall of darkness wrapped around Robin, forming into quasi-organic black armor with a crimson wing symbol on his chest. An armored mask covered the entirety of his face with white covers surrounding glowing red eyes.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," he snarled, his voice inhuman.

Robin zoomed at, around, and amidst the soldiers, fighting them too quickly for them to dodge. They tried to fire at Robin, but Robin caught the bullets just after they left the rifle chambers and telekinetically blocked the ones he couldn't catch. He slammed his elbow into one soldier's stomach, hitting his liver. He whirled and smashed his foot into another soldier's kidney. The soldiers began to pile on him, figuring they'd overwhelm him with sheer numbers, but they had underestimated him greatly; telekinetic force emanated from him and threw the soldiers off him.

"Reinforcements!" one of the soldiers shouted into his comm. "We need reinforcements!"

"Reinforcements," Robin echoed. "Bring them on."

Out of the range of the senses of everyone present except Robin, Kid Flash, and Cyborg, Dagon rushed in with wrist-blades extended. Robin whirled out of Dagon's way and tripped him from behind, but Dagon flipped upward and landed with a kick to Robin's armored head. Robin grabbed his ankle and threw him across the corridor, only for Dagon to flip off the wall and throw himself at Robin again. Robin caught him in mid-lunge and spun him into a slam that landed him on the floor. Dagon kicked Robin off him, but Robin rolled onto his feet.

"So you're the reinforcements," Robin sneered. "I kicked your ass once. I can kick it harder this time, and maybe you'll learn."

"Learn what?" Dagon asked contemptuously.

"That I'm not one to casually mess with," Robin replied, shadow-matter blades projecting from the backs of his hands. The Dark Squire zoomed at Dagon, punching him in the stomach with the blade projecting from his fist. Dagon snarled and struck Robin with his fist, knocking Robin away. Robin twisted in midair and his cape unfurled into a mass of black tendrils that lunged at Dagon, who slashed at them with his wrist-blades. One tendril got lucky and wrapped around Dagon's wrists, binding them together. Others followed, wrapping around his legs and torso.

"Let me go, you freak!" Dagon screamed.

"Freak, am I?" Robin commented. "So says the one who needed biotech modifications to give himself a fighting chance against my kind."

The tendrils pulled Dagon to Robin, who retracted his armored mask to reveal his regular mask. He smirked briefly at the helpless artificial dhampir before lunging and biting his throat. There was no gentleness in Robin's bite; he simply tore into Dagon's vein and drank his blood. Dagon would have struggled, but the shadow tendrils held him fast. Once Robin was finished, he threw Dagon's limp body aside, having acquired what he needed from the artificial dhampir. He could see it now, in the other's blood, just why he had been targeted by the Initiative.

"Aw, fuck!" one of the soldiers shouted in horror. "He took out Dagon!"

"What the hell is this freak?!" another soldier asked.

Raven, Jericho, Cyborg, and Kid Flash were aghast at what they had seen Robin do. Raven and Cyborg had never seen Robin behave so viciously in combat, not even when Slade was involved. Jericho could barely stand; he felt like fainting after what he had witnessed. Kid Flash . . . was simply trembling with disgusted fury. To him, this black-armored _thing_ that stood before them now was not the friend he had known. His friend would have never been so vicious to an opponent, not even Slade. No, this bloodthirsty monster was definitely _not_ his friend.

"Anyone else?!" Robin challenged. The soldiers began to retreat, replaced by a small army of zombie-like creatures.

"Zombies?!" Cyborg yelled. "What's wrong with these Initiative people?!"

"They're what happens when you try to turn non-virgins," Raven replied, "even if you're making them into dhampirs. The Initiative learned that the hard way and now they're using these ghouls as foot soldiers."

Robin glared at the ghouls. "There's nothing we can do for them. Just as you can't make a vampire human again, you can't make these creatures human again. The most merciful thing we can do is kill them." The armored mask re-formed over his face.

"He's right, unfortunately," Raven agreed.

Robin charged into the midst of the ghouls and began tearing them apart, literally. He punched one so hard in the face that his fist went through the back of the ghoul's head and whirled to slam his foot into another ghoul, knocking it down along with several other ghouls. Robin tensed his wrists and Razorbirds made from shadow matter released themselves from his gauntlets. Robin threw them at the ghouls, slicing their heads and limbs off.

"How are we gonna fight these things?" Kid Flash asked. "They were human once."

"So were vampires," Cyborg replied grimly, charging up his sonic cannon and blasting sound waves so powerful that the ghouls crumbled after being hit. Jericho transferred into Raven's body and they fought together, utilizing close-quarters fighting techniques augmented by Raven's telekinetic powers. Kid Flash ran amidst the ghouls, fighting them at hyper-speed.

"Glad you're helping," Robin snarled as he sliced apart more ghouls with his blades.

"Shove it, you bloodthirsty son of a bitch," Kid Flash sniped.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"And I'm going to pretend that one of my best friends hasn't been turned into a monster."

Soon enough, the ghouls had all been shredded by the five Titans. Robin dissolved the shadow-matter armor, revealing his now-regular costume. "Why do I get the feeling this isn't the end of it?" he wondered.

"Because it isn't," Raven replied, her eyes glowing green to indicate Joey's presence in her body. "We have to rescue the vampires they're using for their experiments. That's what we came here to do, not fight amongst ourselves while fighting the Initiative's monsters."

"Done that already," Cyborg replied. "Managed to do a wireless hack of the Initiative's containment system while we were fighting those ghouls and the prisoners are free."

"What are we going to do with them?" Kid Flash asked as the formerly imprisoned vampires began to emerge.

"We're taking them to the Tower," Robin replied.

"_What?!_" Kid Flash exploded. "You're not serious!"

"Look at me, Kid Flash," Robin said. "Do I _look_ like I'm joking?"

"No, no, _hell no!_" Kid Flash yelled. "We're not housing those things in our Tower!"

"Watch who you call 'things,'" one of the vampires spat.

"Fuck you, you bloodsucking bastard," Kid Flash retorted.

Jericho released himself from Raven's body with a slight flush on his cheeks. "Who's the little sweetie?" another of the vampires asked, her voice teasing.

"You're not touching him!" Kid Flash yelled.

"Asshole," the denied vampire muttered.

"His name's Jericho," Raven replied evenly, although Robin could sense her jealousy.

"We're not doing this," Kid Flash spoke almost frantically. He looked at Cyborg. "Come on, Cy, you're not going to let him house those monsters in our Tower, are you?"

"Our Tower's the safest place for them right now," Cyborg replied. "And unlike you, I know enough about what it's like to be hated for being something you can't help but be. I'm not going to treat them like monsters, because if Robin and Mai are any indication, most of them aren't."

Kid Flash sputtered in rage and tore off faster than anyone except Robin could follow. Cyborg sighed remorsefully, while Raven stared contemptuously at the spot where Kid Flash had been standing just then. Jericho just shook his head sadly, looking at Robin with large green eyes. Robin looked at the remainder of his team and then looked at the vampires that Cyborg had freed.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go before the Initiative sends any more of their freaks after us."

* * *

Later on, the freed vampires looked upon their surroundings inside Titans Tower. For a tower that headquartered a bunch of teenagers, it was very well-kept and well-stocked. The high-tech equipment was a marvel to them, as most of them had never seen technology that advanced in their lives. Some of the more technologically astute gazed upon the supercomputer with fascination, wanting to play with it a bit.

Robin had to smile; they were like kids in a candy store. "There are guest rooms placed all over the Tower. The windows can be blacked out; light will still come in, but the ultraviolet radiation will be blocked so you don't actually burn up during the day. There's also blood packs in the walk-in refrigerator; you can pour the blood in a cup and warm it up or just drink it from the pack."

"Use a straw, though," Beast Boy popped in. "Because just biting into it is even grosser than using a straw. With the straw, it's just creepy."

"We'll keep that in mind," a floppy-haired vampire remarked with a hint of a smile.

"Where is Kid Flash?" Starfire asked.

"He didn't want us housing the Initiative's prisoners in our Tower, so he left," Raven replied. "He's just being an asshole right now."

"He is being the opening of the rectum?" Starfire wondered, confused.

"It's a more vulgar way of saying that he's being a real jerk," Argent explained.

"Oh," Starfire said, her confusion cleared. "Why is he being so unpleasant? In my solar system, there was a disease that turned people into blood drinkers, but they were not hated. We knew that they suffered from a disease and we worked hard to ease their suffering in the absence of a cure. Some of us offered themselves up as what you would call blood donors."

"Not everyone on Earth is as tolerant and understanding as you, cutie pie," Mai said, prompting a confused look from Starfire.

"I appreciate you calling me 'cutie,' but what is the meaning of referring to me as 'pie'?" Starfire asked.

"It's a common nickname here for people whom other people find cute," Mai explained with a smile. "Besides, if everyone on Earth was tolerant and understanding of vampires, we wouldn't have vampire hunters. Bastards like the Initiative and that priest freak wouldn't be around to torment us."

"Dude, you're like our Moses," another vampire uttered in worshipful awe.

"Moses?" Beast Boy echoed.

"Yeah," the vampire confirmed. "As in the guy who led the Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land."

"What makes you think I'm Moses?" Robin asked.

"You saved us from the Initiative! And now you can take us to someplace better, something greater!"

"And how am I going to do that?"

"You've got power unlike any vampire we've ever seen. Even the old vampires would have a tough time fighting you."

"What are you saying?"

"Revolution, man! We don't have to take the old way of doing things! We don't have to let the old people run things! We've got you now! You can take us to a new world, make a new vampire society!"

"Ok . . . Clearly, you're somewhat divorced from reality."

"You think I'm nuts? I'm not crazy, man. The old vampires have gotten so secure in their power that they think they can do whatever. They think they're untouchable. That's why guys like the Initiative are coming after us. With you on our side, things would have to change!"

"I should mention that if it wasn't for the clan leaders in this city, I wouldn't even have been aware of your situation and I wouldn't have been able to rescue you."

"But you don't have to listen to them! You have more power in your pinky than they do in their entire bodies!"

"I should bring up the point that destabilizing the vampire world just to bring about the new order you seem to want could expose us to humans. Then what would happen? There's far more of them than us, even with our abilities."

"Dude, you're like the Superman of vampires! You can take 'em!"

Robin pressed the space between his concealed eyebrows and groaned. "For the love of . . . you're really serious, aren't you?"

"Yeah. It's time for a change. Long past time, actually. And you're our ticket to that change."

* * *

End Notes: It appears that the Titans' successful rescue of the Initiative's captured vampires will have deeper consequences down the line. One Titan has already fled in protest and there is restlessness among the young vampires, a demand for a new order in the vampire world. Not to mention the clan leaders' interest in Robin and whatever it is the Initiative wants with Robin. And what will Kid Flash do about the vampiric presence in Titans Tower?

Any remarks, critiques, or questions would be quite welcome. See you next chapter.


	5. Scum of the Earth

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 5: "Scum of the Earth"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. They belong to DC Comics/Time Warner and Kohta Hirano, respectively. The only profit I make from this story is the satisfaction of knowing that I've written something people will want to read.

Author's note: Now, you may be wondering why Kid Flash is being such a dick to Robin. The answer is simple and that is that people fear what they don't understand. Even superheroes are not exempt from this; if they were, mutants would get a lot more support from the "empowered human" community in the Marvel Comics Universe. However, Kid Flash fans will not have to worry for long, as someone very special will be knocking some sense into him soon enough. Wanna see?

* * *

Kid Flash had run to his one refuge, the one place he knew he would be welcome when he needed to get away from the other Titans. That one place was a small, one-bedroom apartment that was cozily arranged. It was an apartment that belonged to the probability-manipulating former villainess Jinx, under the alias of Jana Suresh. Jinx – or rather, Jana – had welcomed him in when she saw the troubled expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Wally?" she asked.

"It's Robin," Kid Flash replied. "He's turned into a monster."

"Is that why he's wearing black now?" Jinx asked.

"Some wacko cult sealed some kind of demon god inside him and now he's a blood-drinking monster," Kid Flash replied. "He's even got other vampires holed up in the Tower now. He's endangering us all by having them there and he doesn't even care."

"What makes you think they're monsters?" Jinx asked, her catlike pink eyes narrowing.

"They prey on human beings for their blood!" Kid Flash answered indignantly. "What else do I need to know?"

Jinx slapped Kid Flash, the slap coming so unexpectedly that Kid Flash couldn't dodge. "Listen, Wally. Vampires are not automatically evil. Like us, they have a choice. You made me see that. You made me see that I didn't have to be evil just because my powers caused bad luck. With modern medicine being as it is, vampires don't need to hunt humans for their blood; they can just get it from a blood bank. And Robin has more self-control than to just go around killing people for their blood, not to mention that he's your friend."

Kid Flash looked at Jinx, chastised yet still insistent on his point. "To be honest, I trust Robin more than I trust those vampires he's got in the Tower. Who knows what they'll do to the other Titans?"

"Robin won't let anything happen to his friends," Jinx answered. "You know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," Kid Flash admitted. "I've been a real ass, haven't I?"

"Yes, you have," Jinx confirmed. "Now go back to the Tower and apologize to Robin."

"Sure, Mommy," Kid Flash answered sarcastically.

"If you wanna play like that, then we should be in bed," Jinx replied with a smirk.

Kid Flash winked at her before speeding away from her apartment. As he ran back to the Tower, he could only think of Robin. He had been so fucking scared when Robin took out Dagon and ripped into the Initiative's ghouls, so scared that he'd forgotten something important. Robin wasn't a monster just because of his new abilities and nature, just like Raven wasn't a monster because of who her father was and Jinx wasn't evil just because her powers brought bad luck. He had been such a moron, such a goddamn fool; he could only wonder how he'd make it up to Robin.

* * *

Elsewhere in Jump City, several skinhead vampires were prowling the streets. They were new to the blood, reborn through the technology of someone who claimed to be representing a group calling themselves "Millennium." The person, looking like a young boy with cat ears, had said that Millennium was going to create a new world order in which the impure would be destroyed and offered them a chance to be part of it. The skinheads had eagerly agreed; vampire powers would give them the edge they needed over the lesser peoples infesting this nation. When pressed for a name, the boy had identified himself as Schrödinger and seemingly vanished.

Suddenly, a man-shaped figure landed before them. With their enhanced senses, they could see that it was a tall, muscular man dressed in skintight black with gray mesh between his shoulders and forearms and around his abdomen. Gray armored plates covered his shoulders, forearms, thighs, knees, shins, and feet. A black-and-orange bisected mask covered his face, with a singular lens on the orange side and breathing slits where his mouth would have been.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" one of the skinhead vampires asked.

The man tilted his head as to suggest he was smirking at them. This single motion enraged another of the skinhead vampires to the point that he lunged at the masked man. He should have been fast enough to catch the masked man by surprise, but as though anticipating him, the masked man grabbed his outstretched arm and whipped him into the wall with such force that he tore his arm off, as he'd been gripping it quite tightly.

"My arm!" the skinhead screamed. "My fucking arm!"

The masked man chuckled darkly. "Come on. Surely a minor wound like that wouldn't be enough to stop you, would it?"

"Motherfucker!" another skinhead yelled, charging at the masked man. The masked man simply punched him in the head once he was close enough, his fist smashing through the skinhead's head and splattering brain matter, blood, and skull fragments all over it and the ground.

"What are you?!" a third skinhead asked in terror.

"Something far superior to you," the masked man replied.

The third skinhead, along with his four remaining uninjured companions, rushed the masked man, moving at superhuman speeds. The masked man seemed to regard them as moving at slow motion, considering the speed with which he dispatched them. He tore out the heart of one with claws bursting from his fingers, while brutally dismembering the other four. The skinhead who had had his arm torn off had attempted to escape, but the masked man who had so easily and savagely dispatched his comrades caught up with him easily.

"Leave me alone!" the one-armed skinhead yelled, although it came out more like a desperate plea.

"Actually, no," the masked man replied. "You fools needed to learn a lesson. Weaklings like you can never stand against those such as I."

"Fuck!" the one-armed skinhead yelled. "Who are you?!"

"You can call me . . ." the masked man trailed off, chopping the one-armed skinhead in the neck with such force that his head came off. "Deathstroke."

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, Robin sat in front of the computer screen, pondering his next move. He had all these vampires in the Tower now, and he was hoping he could count on them not to feed off his fellow Titans. He could smell a familiar and pleasantly alien scent, as a pair of slim black-covered silver-white arms wrapped around him from behind. Robin reached up to place his hand over one of the hands currently dangling on his chest.

"Hi, Argent," Robin greeted.

"Hi yourself, love," Argent answered, tilting her head down for a kiss. Robin tilted his head up, catching Argent in a not-quite-awkward, not-quite-uncomfortable kiss. After the kiss broke, she smiled at him. "What're you thinking about?"

"Just wondering what I've gotten myself into," Robin replied. "The clan leaders in the city want me to be their protector and agent. I've got all this power, but I don't understand it entirely, and L'andira's been trying to push me to use it more aggressively."

"Like what you did to Dagon?" Argent surmised.

"Yeah, like that," Robin affirmed. "It's scary. And you know something else that's scary? The idea that sooner or later, I'll lose control of the power I have inside me and then I'll really hurt someone, someone I care about, someone I . . ."

"Love?" Argent filled in for him.

Robin was silent, allowing Argent to continue speaking. "You don't have to be afraid to use that word."

"Except that word is thrown around by people who don't understand what it means. I don't want to use the word unless I seriously mean it, and I've . . . had some bad experiences with that."

"I understand. I can wait. You'll say it eventually."

"Sure." He squeezed her hand gently. "One day."

"If it isn't the lovebirds," a certain sardonic voice remarked, prompting Robin and Argent to turn and see Mai standing there. "We've got a bit of a problem."

"What is it, Mai?" Robin asked.

"Gavin tried to get inside Raven's room. The end result wasn't pleasant."

"He isn't dead, is he?"

"If you mean dead as in really dead as opposed to undead, then no."

* * *

"I'll talk to them." Robin rose from his seat, gently pulling out of Argent's grip, and walked out of the living room-slash-ops room. He "flickered" to Raven's door, flickering being the vampire equivalent of a sprint. Once there, he saw a chastised brunet boy looking down at the floor and Raven scowling at him. "What happened?"

"He tried to sneak inside my room," Raven replied.

Robin turned to Gavin. "What for?"

"I just wanted to see what was inside. Guess my curiosity got the better of me. Sorry."

"Fine. Just don't do it again. Raven's a martinet when it comes to privacy."

"Ok." Gavin flickered away from Raven's door, leaving her and Robin alone.

Robin turned to Raven. "You still have problems letting other people in, don't you?"

"You I can tolerate. A total stranger, no."

"Not what I meant."

Raven sighed. "For my powers to remain under control, I have to remain under control. Letting someone in like that carries with it a risk of losing that control."

"Something I can relate to, sort of."

"You've had control issues since before L'andira was sealed inside you."

Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask. "Dr. Fate visited me earlier tonight. He told me that my relationship with L'andira was symbiotic but that I had to be careful to make sure that my will was stronger than hers." He paused. "Did you ever hear of the Silent Zone?"

"The Silent Zone was where they sent gods that grew too powerful for their own good and the good of humanity."

"Why was L'andira sent there?"

"The accounts differ. Some say it was because she was undermined by former worshippers that sought to take her power for their own. Others say she attempted to conquer the human race by spawning an army of vampires and had to be restrained by her fellow gods. There are accounts that say she was betrayed by several of her fellow gods and trapped in the Still Zone."

Robin sighed, only to find Alucard walking through the wall to introduce himself to Raven. "Alucard. What brings you here?"

"I wanted to see you," Alucard replied imperiously.

"Who says I wanted to see you?" Robin retorted.

"Quick with the remarks, aren't you? You almost remind me of what Police Girl would be like if she had more of a backbone."

"Who are you?" Raven asked.

"You must be Raven," Alucard answered. "Fascinating young lady you are. You'd make a splendid vampire, you know that?"

Raven narrowed her eyes. "You didn't answer my question."

"So much like my Master," Alucard remarked. "Very well. You may call me Alucard."

"Master?" Raven asked.

Alucard smirked at Raven and hovered over her, inhaling with his nose. Raven fought the urge to shiver in his presence. She'd fought her own father, for Christ's sake; she could handle one arrogant vampire, couldn't she? The red-coated vampire pulled away from Raven, still smirking.

"I like your scent."

Raven shivered this time, but with rage rather than fear. _How dare he?_ Dark energy crackled around her hands as she asked in a voice as calm as she could manage, "Do you know it's rude to sniff people for no reason?"

"Who says I need a reason?" Alucard asked. He turned to Robin. "Be careful, boy. You are still just a baby by our standards. A powerful baby, but still a baby, and you're entering a world that's more dangerous than you realize."

"Considering I just saved the prisoners of a military organization trying to harvest their bodies to create superhuman vampire killers, I think I have some idea how dangerous things are for me now."

"I wasn't speaking of that. I was speaking of the rampant intrigues in our world. We may be 'immortal,' but like humans, we can lust for power ourselves. Be wary that such lust does not overcome you . . . or else my Master will deem you a target and I'll have to kill you. That would be a shame." He walked out through the wall, passing through it like a ghost.

"Is that the vampire who shot off your arm?" Raven asked.

"Yeah," Robin replied.

* * *

Just then, Kid Flash appeared next to Robin and Raven. "Guys? I just wanted to say that I've been a real asshole and I'm sorry."

Robin smiled. "You're forgiven."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. The only people I have grudges against are villains and last I checked, you're not a villain."

"Thanks, Robin. That means a lot to me." Kid Flash sped to the refrigerator to get himself something to eat when he caught a blue-haired vampire girl sipping a blood pack through a straw. His expression wrinkled slightly, but he caught himself and forced it back to normal. "Uh, hey."

"Hey."

". . . What's up?"

"This is kinda cool. I always dreamed of being a Titan."

"We can make you an honorary one. Give you a communicator and all that jazz."

"Yeah. Why so nice all of a sudden? Thought you were disgusted by us 'monsters.'"

"Girlfriend slapped some sense into me."

"Womanizer like I've heard you are, you'd need to be denied pussy before you came to your senses on anything."

"I'm a reformed womanizer!"

"Is that the same as a dry drunk?"

Kid Flash rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

The blue-haired vampire finished her pack and crumpled it up, tossing it like a basketball. The pack easily made it inside the garbage bin. "Swish."

"What's your name?"

"Undine."

"Interesting name."

"What's yours?"

"Kid Flash."

"Your real name."

"Can't tell you that. Trade secret."

Undine sighed. "Figures. You superheroes are always so secretive."

"So are you vampires."

"That's because if everyone knew vampires existed, there would be even more humans trying to hunt us down and kill us."

"And if everyone knew who we were when we weren't in costume, we'd have villains going after our friends and families."

Undine groaned. "You have a good point."

Kid Flash smiled. "So do you."

"Can I guess your name?"

"Knock yourself out?"

"Um, you look kind of like a Jason or a John or a Walter or a Hunter."

"You were close with number 3, but no cigar."

"Aren't you going to give me a helpful hint?" Undine smiled at Kid Flash, batting her lashes.

Kid Flash shook his head. "No."

"Awwww, you're no fun." Undine pouted . . . quite sexily, Kid Flash had to admit. Still, he had only to summon up the memory of mesmerizing pink eyes burning into his blue ones to resist Undine's charms.

"Kid, what would Jinx say if she knew you were hitting on another girl?" Beast Boy asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"She'd say nothing because I'm not hitting on another girl," Kid Flash replied. "Another girl is hitting on me. I'm not doing anything."

"Right," Beast Boy drawled.

"I'm serious! I'm not doing anything!" Kid Flash spotted Cyborg walking into the kitchen. "Come on, Cy! Your sensors can tell if I'm telling the truth, so scan me! Ask me if I was flirting with Undine here! You'll know!"

"Were you flirting with Undine?" Cyborg asked.

"Nope, not at all!" Kid Flash replied.

"The sensors detect nervousness and slightly elevated heart rate, but nothing too out of the ordinary for you. You're telling the truth."

"Exactly! I'm reformed!"

Cyborg rolled his biological eye. "I'll stick around. Just to keep you honest."

"Nobody trusts me!" Kid Flash exclaimed indignantly. "Do I have to go fucking celibate to prove to you people that I'm not a womanizer anymore?"

"That would help," Beast Boy answered with a grin.

Kid Flash indignantly sped out of the kitchen, a "Fuck this!" clearly heard as he retreated. Beast Boy snickered in amusement and banged Cyborg's larger fist in the familiar gesture of friendship.

"You guys like torturing him, don't you?" Undine mused.

"He'll be ok," Cyborg replied. Suddenly, a proximity alarm sounded. "Oh, man. Better call the others."

He didn't have to, as he and Beast Boy found the other Titans in the living room-slash-ops room. The vampires that they had taken into their protective custody had gathered there as well. Robin accessed the screen to get a look at the intruder. His eyes narrowed beneath the mask.

"Slade."

"Slade?" Argent echoed.

"Yeah. Twisted bastard."

"What's he doing here?" Kid Flash asked.

"That's what we're going to find out," Robin replied. He turned to look at the vampires. "You guys stay inside."

"We want to help," Gavin said.

"You can help more by not getting yourselves killed fighting this guy," Robin answered. "I don't know what's going on, but I have the feeling that Slade's changed, and for the worse. If I'm right . . . we could be in for a real fight."

"Fine, then," Mai said. "But if I see you about to get killed, I'm coming out there . . . and I won't be alone."

* * *

The Titans exited their Tower in different ways. Starfire, Argent, and Beast Boy in the shape of a raven flew out. Robin and Kid Flash zoomed out, while Raven transported herself, Cyborg, and Jericho through a shadow-portal.

Slade stood before them, gazing at them with a single, mocking red eye. "Titans . . . how nice to see you again. I see you've added a few to your ranks."

"Slade . . ." Beast Boy growled, his shape rippling and changing into the Werebeast.

"Beast Boy," Slade greeted. "Still angry over losing your beloved Terra? She's better off without you."

"You son of a –" Beast Boy snarled and lunged at Slade, who simply grabbed him by the throat and brutally choke-slammed him onto the ground.

"Beast Boy!" Cyborg shouted, activating his Sonic Cannon. "Back off, Slade!"

"Or you'll do what?" Slade asked sinisterly.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, leading the Titans in an attack on Slade. Robin was the first to reach Slade, flickering at him and snap-kicking him into the ocean. Slade merely rose from that ocean and came down with a brutal punch that Robin dodged, leaving Slade's fist to impact against the ground. The impact was enough to shake the island.

"Whoa!" Cyborg exclaimed. "He was never that strong before!"

Raven looked Slade in his eye and saw a horrifying flash of _something._ It looked small, almost like a pea, and yet it was full of evil intent . . . and it was _growing._ In her fright, she almost didn't notice Slade flickering in front of her. She raised a shield to protect herself, but Slade pierced it with a simple blow, his fist striking her in the stomach. He grabbed her by her hood as she fell and looked her in the eye, frightening her with the evil she saw in that eye.

"Hello, Raven. It's been awhile."

"Get away from her!" Robin shouted.

"Or you'll do what, Robin?" Slade gently cupped Raven's chin, his fingers slowly extending into claws.

"Let. Her. Go."

"Come on, Robin. Show me what you're made of. Show me your strength."

Robin flickered at Slade, only for Slade to pull his clawed hand away from Raven's chin and swing at Robin, who dodged and kicked Slade in his armored head. Slade didn't seem to be that affected by the kick and swung his leg out to trip Robin. The Dark Squire jumped up to avoid the kick and landed with a hard kick to Slade's knee, bending it at a very wrong angle. Slade did not seem deterred by this; rather, he just pushed his knee back into place and bent it properly to demonstrate that it had healed.

"What . . . what happened to you?" Robin asked.

"He's not human anymore, Robin," Raven replied with hidden franticness. "There's . . . there's something inside him. It's changed him. Made him even worse."

"Worse?" Slade echoed. "I choose 'better.'"

Robin felt a cold shiver of fear running down his spine, both his and L'andira's. _L'andira? What is he?_

_Infected is what he is. He is now a Wamphyr._

_Wamphyr? What is that?_

_Equal and opposite of what you are, of what we are, of what I created._

Robin looked Slade in his eye, an eye that was even more filled with evil than the Dark Squire had ever seen it. "Robin . . . are you ready to begin?"

* * *

End Notes: Good to end it here. Yeah, for those of you who don't read Hellsing, Millennium is a Nazi-affiliated military organization seeking to start an endless war. Schrödinger is one of its operatives, granted the power of being "everywhere and nowhere," which allows him to survive fatal wounds and presumably move at tremendous speeds.

If you're wondering what in hell has happened to Slade, read a good book series called _Necroscope;_ I've borrowed some elements from it for the purpose of making Slade what he is now. Any remarks, questions, or critiques would certainly be welcome.


	6. Soul Reapers

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 6: "Soul Reapers"

Disclaimer: Neither Teen Titans nor Hellsing belong to me. TT belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers, while Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano. Some concepts used here belong to Joss Whedon – the Initiative – and Brian Lumley – _Wamphyri._ I am merely borrowing them for my own sinister purposes. MWAHAHAHAHAHA! Kidding.

Author's note: Here's where things really go bad for the Titans, with dire consequences for at least a few. Slade is back, only armed with superhuman powers and an even darker mindset than before. How did this happen and how will it affect the team? You can only find out by reading on, starting now.

* * *

Robin and Slade stared each other down, Slade still holding Raven in his grip. Robin tensed, wanting to do something to stop Slade yet not wanting to get Raven hurt. Unconsciously, shadow matter began to cover his arm, hardening into the familiar quasi-organic metallic substance. His eyes narrowed at Slade underneath his mask as he reached into his utility belt and pulled out several three-pointed shuriken. He threw them all at Slade with superhuman speed and force, only for them to suddenly stop an inch short of the masked madman and fall to the floor.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Robin," Slade sneered, casting Raven aside and charging Robin with such speed that even Robin was taken aback. A brutal punch sent Robin flying toward the water, only for Raven to catch him telekinetically and place him back on the island. A blade extended from the quasi-organic shadow metal that had covered his arm and he rushed to attack Slade, the mastermind attacking him as well. The two flickered all over the island, either attacking or blocking an attack.

"How are you doing this?" Robin asked.

Slade seemed to be smirking underneath his mask. "It happened a week ago. I ran afoul of someone who seemed to be more demon than man. He wounded me, I killed him. After that, I could feel myself changing, my body becoming stronger, my mind expanding . . . it opened my eyes."

"To what?"

"To my destiny. This island will be the site where my kingdom begins. And you will all fall."

"I won't let that happen!"

"You won't have a choice." Slade grabbed Robin's flesh-and-blood arm and tore it out of its socket. In response, shadow matter grew from the stump and formed into a quasi-organic shadow-metal arm. Robin punched Slade in his masked face with the new fist, sending Slade flying back at the Tower façade. Slade quickly rose and attacked Robin with a longsword extended. Robin flipped over Slade and aimed to kick him in the back, only for Slade to block the kick and grab Robin's ankle, tossing him aside.

Cyborg fired dual Sonic Cannons at Slade, but Slade moved even faster than sound. Slade thrust his hands through Cyborg's cannon muzzles, tearing through Cyborg's mechanical arms. His next move was to slice Cyborg's legs off in one superhumanly swift and unnaturally fluid movement, leaving Cyborg a basket case.

"Cy!" Beast Boy yelled, charging at Slade as the Werebeast. Slade's retort to that attack was to swing his sword at superhuman speeds. By the time it was over, Beast Boy collapsed, bleeding profusely from the many smaller wounds Slade had made.

Green starbolts flew at Slade, which Slade dodged like they were moving in slow motion. He looked up to see who was throwing them and saw Starfire diving at him. Slade jumped into the air to evade her dive, only for her to fly up at him. This proved to be a mistake for Starfire, as Slade kicked her in her exposed stomach. As Starfire plummeted from the force of the kick, Slade pursued her with vicious punches, beating her like she'd stolen his most precious possession. A bloodied Starfire landed on the ground, groaning as she tried to get up.

Slade answered her with a brutal kick to her prone form. "Stay down."

A red glow surrounded Slade, hardening into a gooey substance meant to entrap him. Unfortunately, Slade tore through it, only to end up on the receiving end of a hundred-punch-per-second assault by Kid Flash. Slade merely seemed to tolerate the attack, finally stopping Kid Flash in his tracks when he grew bored. He smashed Kid Flash in the ribcage with an elbow, sending Kid Flash flying back and breaking several ribs.

Argent soared toward Slade on a red plasma disk, ramming the disk into Slade's face. As with Kid Flash, Slade merely seemed to tolerate the attack. He grabbed Argent by her legs and threw her aside, only for her to right herself in midair and throw red plasma knives at him. Slade batted the knives aside and pulled out throwing blades of his own, flinging them at Argent with such speed and force that she couldn't throw up a shield in time to protect herself. Slade used the throwing blades to obscure his movements, grabbing Argent by her neck and raking her chest with his claws, then throwing her aside.

Raven shot a blast of dark energy-based telekinesis at Slade, which Slade blocked with a telekinetic shield. A microsecond later, he was right behind Raven. She tried to whirl about, but he pressed his forearm to her throat and gripped her thigh, his hand inching up toward her groin.

"Let me go," Raven strained to say.

"Why should I?" Slade asked. "Truth be told, I've found you rather desirable since the first time your father sent me after you. If it wasn't for the fact that you were going to become his portal into this world, I would have asked him to let me keep you as a plaything."

The leer in Slade's voice chilled Raven to the bone and she redoubled her struggles in his grip. Finally, she created a telekinetic aura around herself and pushed it outward, trying to force Slade to release her. Unfortunately, Slade's telekinesis clashed with and ultimately overcame hers. To Slade's surprise, his own longsword ran through his shoulder, missing Raven's head by a slight margin.

Slade dropped Raven and removed the longsword from his shoulder, whirling to see who had dared. His eye widened when he saw Jericho standing before him, trembling with fury. Jericho lunged at Slade, only for Slade to grab him by the wrist and slam him to the ground. Slade pulled back his mask, revealing his face to Jericho, the face of a man in his mid-thirties with ash-blond hair and one crimson eye, the other concealed by an eye-patch. He smiled darkly at Jericho with a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Hello, Joey. Don't you have a hug for dear old Dad?"

Jericho struggled in his grip, only for the struggle to prove fruitless, as Slade bit Jericho's neck, sipping his blood. Slade pulled back and smiled with bloody lips, putting his mask back on. "You won't see it now, but soon enough you will and you'll be grateful to me," he promised. He was about to depart, but he wouldn't get that chance yet, as Robin suddenly reappeared to slash Slade with his shadow-matter blade. "Don't you know when to quit?"

"Apparently, neither do you," Robin retorted.

Slade stabbed Robin with his longsword and pulled the sword up through his shoulder, tearing through muscle, organs, and bone. Robin let out a cry of pain and rage as more shadow-metal took up the injured portions of his body, holding them together. Robin threw Razorbirds at Slade, only for Slade to fling himself to the side in a dodge and move behind Robin, who threw himself into a cartwheel that led into a hard kick to Slade's masked face. Slade recovered and swung his longsword at Robin, who grabbed it and used it to pull Slade up close into a hard punch.

"I think you and I ought to look a little more alike," Slade remarked, and that was the only warning Robin got before Slade sliced his left eye. Blood quickly obscured Robin's vision in his left eye, leaving him somewhat impaired in his fight against Slade. The mastermind took advantage of this and remained on Robin's left side, assaulting him from there. Finally, Robin whirled and hooked Slade's leg with his arm, using it to swing himself upward into a kick. He tore off his useless mask, revealing one red eye and one glowing shadow-matter eye.

"Come on, Slade. Come on!"

"Not now. I've accomplished what I set out to do." Draconic wings grew from Slade's back. "I will see you again soon enough." He rose into the sky and flew away.

"_Get back here!_" Robin roared, ready to follow Slade and tear him apart. He was only stopped by hearing Raven call his name. "Raven?"

"Slade . . ." Raven uttered. "He did a number on us all."

Robin looked around and saw the results of Slade's wicked work. Beast Boy was still bleeding and barely clinging to consciousness. Cyborg was in complete disrepair, his arms destroyed and his legs severed. Starfire was bloodied and battered, while Argent had horrific scratch marks on her chest, the blood staining the anarchy tattoo. Kid Flash was clutching his chest in pain, while Jericho had a grisly wound on his neck.

"Shit . . ." Robin uttered. "He was never . . ."

_That's what becoming a Wamphyr does to you,_ L'andira stated. _The leech gives you power, but it corrupts your soul. In someone like Slade, it releases the last fetters of morality._

"I'll heal the others," Raven said, going to Beast Boy and healing him first, as his wounds were the worst. Soon enough, the cuts began to close, even as they appeared on her. Those wounds were quickly dealt with by her demonic biology. With Beast Boy healed, she moved on to Starfire, healing the Tamaranean's wounds even as she manifested them. Like with Beast Boy's wounds, Raven's demonic biology quickly deal with Starfire's. She moved onto Kid Flash, reducing his injury to a small crack. She went to Argent and healed the claw wounds on her chest, only to see a flash of Slade's crimson eye.

"What's wrong, Raven?" Robin asked, starting toward her and Argent. "Is she all right?"

"No, Robin . . ." Raven replied. "Slade . . . he did something to her. Something worse than just a bad flesh wound."

Robin stopped dead in his tracks. _No . . ._

_Yes,_ L'andira whispered harshly. _A wound from a Wamphyr can turn a human into the Wamphyr's thrall. That is what will happen to Argent unless we do something._

_Can I drink her blood? Can I suck Slade's poison out of her?_

_It doesn't work like that. Just like a human can't suck snake venom out of another human, even a vampire as evolved as you cannot suck a Wamphyri infection out of a human. Even as we speak, the infection is spreading through her body. Soon, she will be enthralled to Slade._

_What can I do? TELL ME!_

_There is one way. We will seek the aid of an old friend of mine, Thanatos._

_How?_

_Take Argent and do as I tell you._

_Ok._ Robin went to Argent and picked her up, like a bridegroom carrying his bride. _Now what?_

_Take her to the temple where you were reborn, where I was sealed inside you._

* * *

Robin ran at subsonic speeds across the bay and into the city, moving fast enough to get there within mere moments. However, he was not moving so quickly that Argent's body was torn apart by the wind resistance and air friction. Once inside the temple, he gently laid Argent down on the altar and looked around. _What do I do now?_

_Cut yourself and use the blood to make a circle around her tattoo. Then repeat what I say._

Robin gashed his flesh-and-blood thumb on his fang and made a bloody circle around Argent's tattoo. With that done, he began to chant the words L'andira spoke to him. It was an alien tongue, but one he understood due to his bond with her. They were words of power, words of summoning.

"Child of Night and Darkness, Twin of Sleep, Lord of Death, come to me. Child of Night and Darkness, Twin of Sleep, Lord of Death, come to me. Child of Night and Darkness, L'andira calls. Twin of Sleep, the Lady of Blood calls you. Come to me, Lord of Death, come to me!"

The bloody circle around Argent's tattoo glowed brightly, the glow turning dark purple-red. A bright column of light emanated from the circle, reaching the ceiling of the temple. The light column widened at the end touching the ceiling, forming a whirlpool of energy in which the face of a fiercely beautiful young man could be seen. Robin gaped at the face he saw in the energy vortex.

"Are you Thanatos?" he asked.

"Yes, I am he," the young man replied. "Why have you summoned me?"

"I summoned you on behalf of L'andira!" Robin shouted. "I summoned you to save Argent!"

"I cannot do such a thing," Thanatos stated. "I am a death god. Kill her, and then we'll talk!"

"NO!" Robin yelled. "I am _not_ killing her!"

_Then she is doomed!_ L'andira roared. _Would you prefer she became Slade's thrall?!_

_No, but . . ._

_But nothing! This is the only way to save her! Thanatos can only infuse himself into her body and heal it once she's dead!_

Robin clutched his head, his shadow-matter eye throbbing. A blood tear seeped out of his organic eye, which had changed color from red to a sorrowful reddish-purple. "I don't want to do this . . . I don't want to kill her . . ."

_If you won't, I will,_ L'andira's voice harshly rumbled in Robin's thoughts. Suddenly, a shadow-metal blade extended from Robin's shadow-metal arm. The arm seemingly raised itself, pulling back before thrusting the blade into Argent's heart.

"_No!!_" Robin screamed. "_What did you do?! What did you DO?!_"

_I saved her life._

The shadow-metal blade retracted as Argent coughed up blood. Her eyes, which had been half-shut until this moment, opened fully, seeing Robin with a tortured expression on his face. "Rob . . . in . . ." she groaned.

"Argent," Robin moaned pitifully, holding her hand and weeping.

_I . . . I don't want to die . . ._ Argent thought.

_You won't,_ Thanatos said. _Not if you accept me._

_Who are you?_

_You will learn that in due time. For now, the important thing is that you have a choice and not very much time in which to make it. Do you wish to survive and remain by your precious Robin's side, or do you wish me to guide you into the next world?_

_I want to live!_

_Right answer._

The energy whirlpool retracted into Argent's heart, filling her – body and soul – with an energy she'd never known before. She let out a scream from the sudden rush of darkly divine power coursing through her veins, electrifying her neurons. The fatal wound Robin had given her healed immediately, as red energy swirled around her, hardening into chains and thorny ropes. The chains and thorny ropes dissolved into red vapors that pulled back inside Argent.

"Argent . . ." Robin murmured, seeing her. To an onlooker, it would seem that nothing had changed about her, save for the red circle around her anarchy tattoo. To Robin, she had changed a great deal. He could hear her heart pumping blood through her veins and the rate of that was halved. Her breathing came more slowly and irregularly, as though she was getting used to the fact that she no longer needed to breathe.

"Robin . . ." Argent answered him. "Thank you."

Robin pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. "You're welcome," he whispered in her ear.

He was relieved that Argent was all right, but at the same time he was in a rage. Even the relief could not overcome that. _How dare you?_ he snarled at L'andira internally.

_I only did what you did not have the courage to do. She could have become enthralled to Slade because of your indecision. Be thankful that I do not share your unwillingness to kill._

_You tried to make me kill before! What I did to Dagon was because of you!_

_Because of me? To an extent, but I only brought out what was already there. You're a vampire, Robin. You kill to preserve your life, whether it be your own or someone else's. The sooner you adapt to it, the better off you'll be._

"Robin?" Argent asked. "You're tense."

"Yes," Robin replied.

"Why? You saved me."

"L'andira saved you. I didn't want to kill you, but I didn't want to see something worse happen to you."

"I was in and out . . . but I heard. That bastard was going to make me a servant to him or something like that."

"I didn't want that to happen, but the only way the ritual to save you from that could work was if you died and I . . . I didn't want to kill you."

"Robin . . . I feel strange."

"Strange how?"

"There's a voice in my head. A guy . . . I see a face in my head . . ."

"May I speak to him?"

"You can do that?"

"Yeah, I think. Let me try." Robin stretched his mind into Argent's, reaching through her defenses and into the recesses of her mind. Once inside, he saw Thanatos, garbed in black armor with a crimson-bladed sword. He wore his black hair tied back in a long thick braid, with four thin bangs over his left eye, which along with his right eye was colored silvery-green. The armor and his hair offset silver-gray skin that was almost the pallor of death. _Thanatos._

_

* * *

_

Hello, Robin, Thanatos greeted him. _Do you appreciate what I've done?_

Thanatos greeted him. 

_Actually, yes. What's going to happen to her?_

_Let's have Argent join us before I talk about that, shall we? And bring your lovely L'andira to me. I want her here for this, too._

Soon enough, a mental representation of Argent appeared in the mindscape, as did a mental representation of L'andira. Robin gaped when he saw L'andira, for before him was a woman of immeasurable beauty. Her hair was a long and red-glossed black, with thick-lashed red eyes staring out at him. A black dress with mesh sleeves covered most of her body but had a tantalizing slit to expose one long, pale leg. A coy smirk was on her face.

_Like what you see, Robin? And don't lie. I'll know if you do._

_You're Thanatos, huh?_ Argent remarked. _Have to admit, you're not that bad-looking._

_Thank you,_ the death god preened. _I'm not going to mind being sealed inside someone as beautiful as you._

Robin resisted the urge to growl possessively at Thanatos. However, he did step closer to Argent. Near him, L'andira chuckled. _Now that we're all here, why don't you explain yourself, Thanatos?_ Robin demanded.

_If you insist. What will happen is that you, Argent, will be able to tap into my spiritual energy. Since you had to die for me to be able to seal myself inside you, you are neither alive nor dead but somewhere in between. You will be able to see into the spirit world, beyond the veil that exists over most corporeal beings' minds._

Thanatos withdrew a sword from the scabbard on his back. _This is a Soul Slayer, the weapon of a death god and the material manifestation of a death god's spirit force. Mine is called Crimson Shadow. This is its normal form. I will show you how to release more of its powers – and in turn, more of your own – in time._

_Sounds awesome,_ Argent remarked.

_However, I must add that in addition to the spiritual power you will inherit from me, I have assimilated the Wamphyr infection Slade cursed you with. As of now, you're sort of a half-Wamphyr. The parasite will remain dormant inside you as long as I am also inside you, allowing you to retain your true self._

_Will I have to drink blood?_

_Yes, I'm afraid so. Will that be a problem?_

Argent looked at him with her head cocked. _At least when we have sex, Robin won't be the only one doing the biting._

_You've read vampire erotica, haven't you?_ L'andira remarked.

_Yeah, always thought it'd be kinda sexy for someone to bite me while we're shagging._

Robin blushed, prompting L'andira to give him a sidelong glance. _We are going to have to cure you of your shyness when it comes to sex._

Thanatos smirked wickedly. _Leave it to me. I could teach the boy a thing or two._

Argent and L'andira both wrapped protective arms around Robin's arms, which made Robin blush even worse. _No way,_ L'andira said. _Knowing you, Thanatos, you'd completely turn him off women._

_Always spoiling my fun._

_We should be getting back to the Tower,_ Robin said. _The others are going to be worrying about us soon._

_Fine,_ Thanatos conceded.

* * *

Robin and Argent returned to the real world and realized the precarious position they were in. It seemed that while they'd been conversing with their "tenants," Robin's hand had ended up on Argent's hip and her thigh had wedged between his legs. Robin blushed, while Argent smiled invitingly at him.

"My, my, whatever will we do now?" she asked.

"Go back to the others and see how they're doing," Robin replied.

Argent pouted, only for Robin to gently caress her face with his gloved flesh-and-blood hand. "We'll get around to that soon," he whispered. "Just as soon as we know everyone else is all right."

"Ok," Argent answered. "But you'd better keep your word."

"I'm known for keeping my word."

* * *

Robin and Argent departed from the temple where they had both been reborn, flying fast enough to return to Titans Tower in seconds. Once they spotted the island, they landed on it and entered the Tower. Ascending to the living-ops room, they were greeted by their fellow Titans and the vampires they had taken into their custody with eager, relieved smiles and hugs.

"Is everyone all right?" Robin asked.

"For the most part," Raven replied.

"What do you mean, 'for the most part'?"

Raven looked away from him. "Robin . . ."

"Something's wrong with Joey, isn't it? Slade . . . he's infectious, isn't he? That thing that changed him got into Joey, too, didn't it?"

Raven nodded sadly, her expression neutral but her eyes and soul betraying her heartbreak. "Where is he now?" Argent asked her.

"Restrained in the infirmary."

"I'll go to him," Robin said. "I want to see . . . if I can save him." Without waiting for anyone to say anything, he flickered into the infirmary to see the restrained Jericho. "Joey? Just think at me. I can hear you."

_Robin . . . he did something to me, my own father, he put this thing in me._

"I know."

_Is there a way you can . . . I heard you and Argent come in. I know you took her away and helped her. Help me!_

"I want to. If there's any way I can remove that thing from you before it takes over, I'll find it."

_No . . . I can already feel it growing inside me. I can feel it twisting my thinking. It wants . . . it hungers . . . it'll take . . . it'll kill . . . it'll make me take . . . make me kill . . . I don't want to . . ._

_L'andira, is there anything I can do to save him?_

_Argent, I could save because she was simply becoming a thrall. Jericho, on the other hand, has Slade's Wamphyr-leech egg inside him. It was the only egg the leech could create . . . and Slade was storing it for his own son._

_To bring Jericho over to his side!_ Outrage quickly colored Robin's expression. _That evil, scheming son of a bitch!_

_Robin . . . stop me . . . please,_ Jericho pleaded. _I can feel it growing stronger. It won't be long before it takes me over and I'm no longer your friend. This thing will use my knowledge of you to hurt you and I don't want to do that, not to any of you, but especially not to Raven. I know I'll never get a chance to say it now, but tell her, tell her please, that I love her._

Robin locked eyes with Jericho, seeing the struggle in them. "Jericho . . ." Anything else he would have said was cut off as Jericho suddenly turned astral and jumped inside Robin. "Joey! What?!"

The Wamphyr inside Jericho laughed inside his mind. _Fooled you._

_Bastard! Get out! Get out of me!_

_No . . . this power you possess is mine now. And I will use it._

_No, you won't!_ L'andira roared, her presence engulfing Robin's mind. _NOW GO!_

The psychic force of her presence was so intense that it threw Jericho out of Robin's body. Jericho landed in an agile crouch and glared at Robin through red eyes. The look in his eye was positively chilling and completely vicious, utterly unlike the Jericho Robin and the other Titans had known. Jericho rose to his feet with an unnatural, frightening grace and his face twisted into a cruel leer.

"I'll see you soon," the thing that had once been Jericho whispered harshly, before speeding away.

"Quarantine protocol, Authorization: 001Robin038!" Robin ordered as he gave chase to "Jericho." Immediately, Titans Tower began to lock itself down, prompting a call from Starfire on his communicator. "Get ready, all of you! Slade infected Jericho and the infection's progressed!"

"Progressed?" Kid Flash asked.

"He's becoming what Slade became!" Robin clarified, speeding ahead of Jericho, only for Jericho to kick the communicator out of his hands. Robin made a dive for it, but Joey was ahead of him and so got to it first, smashing it with his foot.

"Not so fast," Jericho whispered harshly. "Now . . . are you ready?"

Robin smiled grimly, looking at the thing that was once Jericho with both a purple-red eye and a shadow-matter eye. "Are you?"

* * *

End Notes: Once again, a friend has turned foe, but whereas the first case of such was a matter of oppositional beliefs, this is true evil infecting the heart of a Titan! Can Jericho be saved, and if not, will Robin be willing to stop him by whatever means necessary? In the meantime, you're free to stop by with remarks, critiques, or questions. See you around.


	7. Sanguinary Sacrilege

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 7: "Sanguinary Sacrilege"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. The former is the property of DC Comics and Time Warner, while the latter is the property of Kohta Hirano. The concepts of the Initiative and the Wamphyri belong to Joss Whedon and Brian Lumley, respectively. Additionally, the characters of Julius Belmont and Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes belong to Konami and the character of Rayne belongs to Majesco. The only thing I really own is this story and the plot for it.

Author's note: Oh, I'm really going to put the Titans through hell. With Jericho having been corrupted by the demonic monstrosity that used to be his father, the Titans are in for a literal hell of a time. They'll get some help, of course, but whether that help will be wanted is something else. And things may not end all that happily for a few of them. Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

Robin and Jericho stared each other down, trapped in the corridor by the quarantine protocol. A blade extended from Robin's shadow-metal arm. Jericho's hands twisted and grew into hideous claws. The two walked closer to each other, each prepared for an attack from the other. The two finally moved so that they had their backs to each other.

"It's come to this, hasn't it?" Robin intoned bitterly.

"Yes," Jericho hissed inhumanly. With an unnatural speed, he whirled to slash Robin with his claws. Robin's response was to dodge and kick Jericho into the wall. Jericho merely bounced off the wall and rebounded into a lunge at Robin, who caught him by his wrist and threw him. Jericho twisted in midair and landed on his feet, only to be assaulted by a flurry of punches thrown at speeds too great to be followed by an ordinary human. Then again, Jericho was no longer human.

Jericho grabbed one of Robin's fists and squeezed, puncturing skin, muscle, and bone with his claws. Robin bore the pain and kneed Jericho in the stomach. Unfortunately, when Jericho reflexively pulled away, he took much of the flesh and muscle of Robin's hand with him. The grievous injury began to heal and Robin flickered at Jericho, kicking him hard in the stomach and sending him flying back. Robin flickered behind Jericho, who whirled just in time to get a hard punch from Robin. Jericho's body sailed down the corridor and Robin flickered behind him again, knocking him down.

Jericho sprang into the air, kicking Robin in the head and rattling him. Jericho pursued his advantage, swiping at Robin with his claws. The wounds still healed, but not as easily as normally, much like the initial wound Jericho had dealt him. Robin threw his shadow-metal fist between Jericho's claws and struck him in the face. Jericho again went flying, Robin pursuing him down the corridor and slashing him repeatedly at super-speed with his shadow-metal blade. Jericho's wounds quickly healed, despite staining the white of his clothes with his blood.

Jericho finally landed on his feet, sweeping his leg out to trip Robin, who jumped over it only to find that Jericho had turned his sweep into an upward spin that landed his foot in Robin's stomach. Jericho pursued his edge and flipped upward to strike Robin with his other foot. Robin blocked the kick and grabbed Jericho's ankle, twisting hard, only for Jericho to twist with him and score another kick on him. This time, the kick came forcefully enough to send Robin flying down the corridor, Jericho pursuing him with vicious punches and claw swipes.

"Not so fun when the shoe's on the other foot, huh?" Jericho mocked.

Robin stabbed the floor with his shadow-metal blade, using it to anchor himself and stop his unwilling flight. Robin landed with a forward slant to his body, charging at Jericho while dragging his blade along the floor. The blade screamed with Robin's rage, sparking brightly as it was dragged along the surface of the floor. At the very last second, Robin brought the blade up to slash Jericho up the torso. Jericho clutched his wound, hissing in pain and fury.

The body jumper turned to run away from Robin, but Robin was faster, punching Jericho in the face despite his attempt to escape. Jericho fell to the ground, looking up at Robin with ferocious rage in his now-red eyes. He rolled to his feet and projected himself through Robin's body and past the barricades that were supposed to keep him in the corridor. Robin sped through, telekinetically pushing his atoms between the atoms of the barricades.

Unfortunately, he was just in time to see Jericho – in Kid Flash's body – attacking the other Titans. Robin charged at Jericho and struck him in the middle of his rampage. Jericho snarled at Robin and the two began fighting at high speed all over the living-ops room. Starfire was firing her starbolts at Jericho, but in Kid Flash's body, the new Wamphyr was just too fast. Beast Boy lunged at Jericho as a tiger, but Jericho whirled into a kick that sent the shape-shifter flying. Beast Boy rebounded as the Werebeast and rushed Jericho, who jumped into his body to maul Kid Flash and Robin, who both dodged his attack.

Mai sped at Jericho, fighting the Werebeast form he had stolen. As fast as she was, he proved to be faster, grabbing her by the throat and locking eyes with her. He abandoned Beast Boy's body for hers, throwing Beast Boy aside and attacking the other vampires. Gavin and Undine double-teamed Jericho, but he flipped over them and kicked them both in the back of the head. A Razorbird flew at him, but he simply twisted and bent backward to evade it, back-flipping into an attack on Argent, who materialized crimson plasma chains to trap Jericho, only for him to depart from Mai's body and leap into hers.

_You will be my trump card,_ Jericho whispered harshly in her mind. _He loves you. He will hesitate to fight me while I am using your body._

_And that's assuming we let you use her body,_ Thanatos retorted.

_In other words, you're not welcome in here,_ Argent added.

Jericho found himself forced to retreat from Argent's body, only to attempt to jump into Raven's body. Unfortunately for him, Raven's body was not an ordinary body. It was also a dimensional portal and thus . . . "_NO!_" the Wamphyr screamed as he was pulled into another dimension. Specifically, he ended up in Raven's mindscape, surrounded by avatars of the various aspects of her nature. "Do you think you can trap me here?!"

"Actually, you sorry fuck, yes," the green-cloaked Raven representing her courage answered.

"Try it!" Jericho yelled, lunging at Courage, only to be brutally smacked to the ground by her.

"This is a representation of Raven's mind. In here, she has absolute control. You don't. You're trapped."

In the real world, Raven looked at the Titans, a regretful expression on her face. "He's trapped. Until I can find a way to remove the taint of that leech from him, he's stuck inside me."

"Do you think you can prevent him from taking you over and using you to attack us?" Robin asked.

"I'll have no choice," Raven answered.

"That was just sick," Beast Boy said. "And not in the good way. There was just so much . . . evil in there."

"It wasn't him," Robin said. "It was that thing, that thing Slade put in him. We have to find a way to get it out of him."

_You can't,_ L'andira whispered ruefully. _The leech feeds itself into the host's nervous system. You can't remove it without killing him._

_So be it,_ Robin answered. _I'm sure Joey would rather be dead than twisted by that thing._

_You're finally beginning to understand,_ L'andira congratulated him.

"Right now, we have to find Slade and make him pay for what he did to Joey," Robin spoke aloud.

"Sounds good to me," Kid Flash agreed.

"You don't even have to ask," Raven added.

Suddenly, the lights flashed on and off. "What's going on?" Beast Boy asked.

* * *

The front windows abruptly shattered, allowing a small contingent of black-clad intruders to enter. Their outfits were basically body-gloves with attached holsters for large and seemingly unwieldy pistols, one on each hip. Their faces were concealed by masks that covered their entire heads, save for a hole that allowed their hair to flow freely. Large opaque lenses vaguely shaped like teardrops were the only visible features on their masks. The leader was a woman, judging by the curves hugged by her body-glove and the long red hair that flowed from the mask.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in our Tower?" Argent asked.

"My name's Looker," the woman replied. "And we're here to retrieve the subjects you stole from us."

"You're from the Initiative, aren't you?" Robin deduced. "Looks like you're going to be in for a fight, because we're not letting you take them again."

"Come on, then, boy," Looker challenged.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted, ordering the team into battle.

Looker drew her guns so quickly that even Robin, Kid Flash, and Argent could only register her reaching for her guns and then gunfire. Kid Flash sped out of the way of the bullets, while Robin performed acrobatic evasive maneuvers, and Argent blocked with a plasma shield. Raven protected herself with a telekinetic shield as well, while Beast Boy frantically moved out of the way of the bullets and Starfire flew into the air to evade. Starfire retaliated with her starbolts, only for Looker to blur out of the way of those starbolts and emerge behind Starfire, even though Starfire was aerial. With a vicious pistol-whip, Starfire was knocked to the ground.

"Starfire!" Mai shouted, leaping into the air for a flying kick to Looker, who simply circumvented Mai's attack and kicked her in the back. The kick sent Mai flying into the ceiling and as she fell, Looker accelerated her descent with another kick, this one to her stomach.

Kid Flash ran up the wall and along the ceiling, throwing himself off to tackle Looker hard. Unfortunately, Looker merely moved out of the way, leaving Kid Flash to plummet to the ground. Raven caught him telekinetically and gently set him on the floor. With a speed that took even Kid Flash aback, Looker tackled him to the ground, Kid Flash struggling against her superior strength. Finally, he simply vibrated through the ground, leaving Looker holding nothing but thin air.

That was when Beast Boy charged at her as a wolf, Looker rolling out of the way of Beast Boy's charge and shooting at him. Beast Boy dodged the bullets and tackled Looker, who simply put one of her guns to his muzzle, forcing him to jump away a split second before she pulled the trigger. The bullet struck one of the vampires in the chest, causing him to scream in pain and collapse, bleeding profusely.

"JT!" another of the vampires shouted in horror. "Aw, fuck! That was silver, wasn't it?" He looked at Looker, an angry expression on his face. "You bitch!" He lunged at Looker, only to be struck in the head from a bullet from her gun.

"Evan!" a vampire yelped, horrified.

Robin gaped in horror as he saw what was happening. Two of the vampires under his protection had been horribly injured, possibly killed. He zoomed at Looker, dodging her bullets and sliding into a kick that knocked her legs out from under her. As she fell, he punched her in the stomach with his shadow-metal fist, that same fist sprouting a blade that punctured the fabric of her suit and the skin, muscle, and organs beneath. Robin ripped the blade out through her side, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from her.

Looker rose from the floor, clutching her injured stomach as though to keep her organs from spilling out. She turned to the other black-clad Initiative soldiers. "What are you waiting for?! Help me!"

The other Initiative soldiers followed her instructions, attacking the Titans and the vampires under Robin's protection. Like Looker, they drew their seemingly unwieldy pistols, opening fire on everyone present. Unlike Looker, the Titans with more advanced senses could see them drawing their pistols and were thus able to react more swiftly. The vampires dodged the Initiative soldiers' bullets, trying their best simply to stay alive. The sad truth was that many of them simply did not know how to fight. They had strength and speed on their side, but with no real fighting experience, they would simply be cut down.

Starfire weaved around and between the bullets, using her tremendous flight speed to keep out of harm's way. She retaliated with starbolts that the Initiative soldiers managed to dodge for the most part. The ones they couldn't were absorbed by their suits, while Raven telekinetically slashed them with dark energy knives. Kid Flash zipped around the battlefield, knocking around Initiative soldiers whenever he got the chance. Beast Boy attacked the Initiative soldiers in various combat forms, ranging from a tiger to a gorilla to a wolf to a bear.

Looker pulled out a sword blade that looked like a more elegant meat cleaver from behind her back and attached it to the muzzle of one of her pistols. She zipped at Robin, swinging at him with the gun-blade, only for him to block it with his own blade. The two combatants jumped back from each other, dragging their blades on the floor to stop themselves. The two zoomed at each other, slashing each other upon passing. Looker whirled around and fired at him with her other gun. Robin dodged and zipped around the bullets, throwing Razorbirds at her. Looker shot the Razorbirds down, only for Robin to lunge at her and pin her to the wall.

An invisible force threw Robin off Looker, but Robin quickly recovered, even as Looker resumed firing at him. Robin dodged, retaliating with quickly thrown shuriken. Looker dodged the shuriken and continued shooting at Robin. Suddenly, a plasma whip lashed at Looker, knocking her gun out of her hand. The whip retracted, replaced by a crimson plasma fist that knocked Looker into the wall.

"Thanks for the save," Robin said.

"You're welcome, love," Argent answered.

Looker came back at Robin and Argent with her gun-blade, slashing at the duo. Argent chopped Looker's forearm, hitting a nerve that caused Looker to reflexively drop her gun-blade. Argent quickly caught it before it could land on the ground and examined it. "Nice weapon," she remarked. "I'll hold onto it for ya." Just as she was about to slice Looker with her own gun-blade, Looker telekinetically pulled it out of the plasma wielder's hands and back into hers.

"Argent, you think you can tap into Thanatos' powers?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," Argent replied. She concentrated, closing her eyes and reaching deep into her soul, where Thanatos resided. Her eyes opened and her body began to glow scarlet. She stretched out her arm and a double-edged sword materialized in her hand. "Crimson Shadow . . ."

Argent zoomed at Looker, about to slash her with Crimson Shadow when Looker blocked with her gun-blade. The two combatants pushed against each other with their blades, each seemingly even, until the tables turned via Looker pulling out a hidden pistol and shooting Argent in the stomach with it. Argent fell back, outraged by Looker's underhanded tactic.

"You don't bring a gun to a swordfight!" she shouted.

"Correction, Argent: You bring everything that will give you an edge to a fight and it's better that you don't let your opponent see all your cards," Looker retorted coolly.

Argent was rather surprised when her wound stopped bleeding and began to seal itself. A giddy smile soon came to her face. "Whoa . . ." She flipped back onto her feet and slashed at Looker, who dodged her swing and swung her foot out to trip Argent. The plasma wielder simply jumped over Looker's foot and kicked her in her masked face, sending her flying. Argent darted behind the flying Looker and slashed her in the back with Crimson Shadow, bringing her to the ground. Looker rolled onto her injured back, wincing from the pain, and telekinetically brought her pistol to her to shoot at Argent.

Argent dodged Looker's shots with inhuman speed, cutting Looker again with Crimson Shadow. "What's the matter?" she taunted the masked redhead. "Can't you keep up?"

In fury, telekinetic energy lashed out from Looker in all directions, knocking Argent to the ground and battering the other combatants, Robin included. Once the assault stopped, everyone was left almost too thrashed to get up. Some were quicker to recover than others, such as Robin, Argent, and the stronger vampires. The others soon got up after them and Looker's head turned to Argent in a manner that would suggest she had a murderous expression underneath her mask.

"Come on, then," Argent challenged.

Looker rushed Argent, armed with her gun-blade. Argent blocked with Crimson Shadow and spun around Looker, attempting to cut her again. This time, Looker simply blocked without looking at Argent and whirled to punt her into a wall. Argent flipped backward and landed on the wall with her feet, crouching on the wall and pushing herself into a swift thrust of Crimson Shadow at Looker. The masked redhead sidestepped Argent's thrust and swung her foot up to kick Argent into the ceiling.

A blue blast of sonic energy struck Looker in her wounded back, sending her crashing into the wall. She fell back and landed on the floor. The blast prompted the Titans to turn and see a repaired Cyborg standing with his cannon-arm out, a scowl on his face. "Get. The hell. Out. Of our home."

"Fine by us," one of the Initiative soldiers answered.

"No!" Looker yelled. "We wipe them all out! All of them!" She zoomed at Robin, only for Argent to interpose herself between them and block Looker's gun-blade. Looker grabbed Argent by her choker-clad throat and squeezed. Argent simply stabbed Looker with Crimson Shadow and pulled it out through her far side, spinning around to slash Looker again.

"Come on, Looker, it's time to leave," one of the Initiative soldiers, the apparent second-in-command, stated. "Those two cut you up big time. Besides, we've killed all the goddamned bloodsuckers in here, anyway."

"All . . . ?" Robin uttered, the scent of true death filling his nostrils.

* * *

The Initiative soldiers departed, the second-in-command supporting the injured Looker. When they left, the fog of battle faded away, only to be replaced by horror at seeing the vampires Robin had taken into his protection filled with bullet holes. Many of them had been shot in the heart or the head, and with the bullets being silver, those wounds had proved fatal. Even if they weren't hit in the head or the heart, the properties of the bullets hindered their healing abilities, placing them in critical condition if not killing them.

"Aw, man," Beast Boy uttered, shocked. He'd never seen so much death in front of him, not even when his own parents had been killed. He had the urge to throw up, but he managed to hold in the contents of his stomach.

"No . . ." Robin uttered. He zoomed over to one of the vampires, none other than Mai. "Mai . . . I'm sorry . . ."

"Don't be," Mai answered weakly. "Just . . . don't let me die, ok?"

"Just let me get those bullets out of you," Robin said, telekinetically plucking the silver bullets out of Mai. Still, Mai was having a hard time healing. "You've lost a lot of blood. Take mine." He removed his cape and pushed down the collar of his uniform shirt, revealing his neck to her. Mai leaned down and bit the vein in his exposed neck. Robin's blood flowed freely from his vein and Mai drank it greedily. The blood ignited every single neuron in her body, filling her with a strength and vitality that she had never known before, either as a human or as a vampire.

Finally, Mai pulled away from Robin, the blood she had drank from him coursing through her veins and healing her wounds so quickly that it was almost as though they'd never been made in the first place. Despite her lack of need to breathe, she panted heavily from feeling energized and aroused. The taste of Robin's blood on her lips was like a holy elixir to her, and in a way it was. She looked at his crotch and smirked.

"Why, Robin, is that for me?"

Robin looked down and saw that the fabric of his pants was straining to contain his erection. "Natural physical reaction," he brushed it off. "Blood drinking tends to provoke sexual arousal, whether you're the one feeding or being fed off."

"What will we do with all these deceased vampires?" Starfire asked.

"We'll bury them," Robin replied tersely.

And bury them they did. The vampires who were still alive and able to heal helped the Titans in burying their dead companions. Robin could feel L'andira's sorrow, intermingling with his own sorrow and his guilt. He should have been able to protect them, but he hadn't. Nothing in the world could change the fact that people had died, _innocent people had died,_ because of his weakness, because of his inability to protect them.

Robin sensed a punch heading his way, but didn't do anything to dodge it. He simply let it hit him and knock him to the ground. He looked up at the one that had hit him, the young vampire Gavin, who was glaring at him with fury. "Gavin . . ."

"Save it, Boy Blunder," Gavin spat. "He believed in you. He fucking believed that you had the kind of power that could make real change, the kind of power that could strengthen us all. But you're nothing special, after all. Just some punk-ass who lucked his way into power and fucked it all up." He looked at the other vampires. "Come on. Let's get out of here while we still can. We'll take our chances on the outside."

The Titans watched sadly as the remaining vampires, save for Mai, departed from Titans Island via the tunnel pathway connecting Titans Tower to the city. "I don't blame them," Robin whispered. "I failed them, after all. I couldn't protect them and I couldn't protect Joey. Some leader I am."

"Please, Robin, do not beat up Robin over this," Starfire pleaded.

"How do you expect me not to?" Robin asked bitterly.

"We need to plan our next move," Raven said. "First, we need to figure out how they were able to access the Tower. Second, we need to strike back at them. Third, we need to find out what Slade's up to and stop him. With his new powers and nature, he's even more dangerous than before, although I'm sure you all know that already."

Cyborg plugged into Titans Tower's computer systems. "Ghost hacker."

"Ghost hacker?" Kid Flash asked.

"Hackers who leave no trace of themselves," Cyborg explained. "I know that someone hacked into our computer system; there's evidence of that, but they've left no footprints. The only hackers who can do something like that are cyberpaths."

"Cyberpaths?" Beast Boy repeated.

"Hackers who can psionically interface with computer systems and digital information," Cyborg explained. "The Initiative must have used one to cut through our security."

"Then that leaves the 'striking back' part," Robin said. "We're going to find these Initiative bastards and we're going to shut them down, and we're not going to stop until they are shut down. Are we clear on that?"

"Clear," a sensual female voice answered, prompting the Titans to turn and see three people on Titans Island. One was a seemingly young red-haired woman in skintight black-and-red latex, a bodice and pants, complete with platform heels, arm-covers, and curved blades attached to her wrists. The other two were seemingly young men, one auburn-haired and dressed in a brown duster over a black shirt and pants, a whip coiled on his hip. The other had long pale hair, piercing eyes, and was elegantly dressed in all black.

"Hello, Titans," the red-haired young woman greeted. "We're here to help."

* * *

End Notes: Those of you who've played the games in the Castlevania series ought to recognize the two guys. If not, they're Julius Belmont and Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes. For those of you who've played the BloodRayne games, you ought to know the lady is. If not, she's Rayne, formally Agent BloodRayne of the Brimstone Society.

I've put the Titans through hell, haven't I? First Jericho being turned, then the deaths of many of the vampires Robin was protecting, and the surviving vampires leaving. How much worse can I do to them? You'll see. Oh, you'll see. In the meantime, questions, critiques, and remarks are welcome. See you later.


	8. Demon Machine

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 8: "Demon Machine"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans, Hellsing, Castlevania, and BloodRayne are not mine. TT belongs to DC Comics and Time Warner. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano. Castlevania belongs to Konami, and BloodRayne belongs to Majesco. All else – except the Initiative – is mine.

Author's note: I'm sure you're starting to get worried about the fandoms that I am mixing and merging with TT. Don't worry; I'm not doing a multi-fandom crossover. It's more like guest appearances from characters from vampire-based fandoms. I can easily do Castlevania because both Castlevania and the Hellsing series have a version of Dracula. Rayne of BloodRayne fame is simply guest-starring. And that's enough explanation for me; time to begin the story.

* * *

Robin's first impulse was to draw his Razorbirds and throw them at the three intruders. In a lightning-like flash, the redhead's blades had flipped into a combat position and she had used them to slice the Razorbirds apart. "Listen, brat, we're here to help you," she spat.

"And am I supposed to just take your word for it?" Robin retorted. "For all I know, you could be with the Initiative!"

That made the woman bark out a harsh laugh. "Please, you little brat. You think I'd sign up with those assholes?"

"What makes you think we can trust you?" Robin asked suspiciously.

"I don't sense any deception from her or the other two," Raven cut in, ever the voice of reason.

Robin relented. "What's your name?" he asked of the woman.

"My name's Rayne," the woman replied. "My boytoys here are Alucard and Julius."

"Alucard?" Robin uttered. "How can you be Alucard? I already know someone named Alucard and he's a full vampire, while you're a dhampir."

"I took the name to be the opposite of my father," "Alucard" replied. "If you have met someone else calling himself Alucard, that would be my father." He smiled. "Ironic that he has become a servant of humans, after all this time."

"You said you took the name Alucard to be the opposite of your father," Robin said. "If 'Alucard' is reversed, then we have 'Dracula.' Oh, God. I fought Dracula. I fought the Lord of Vampires himself."

"According to most tales of my father's defeat, he was not only bested but also killed," "Alucard" explained. "The killing part was a lie, meant to assure the mortals that my father would never threaten them again. And with everyone thinking Dracula was dead or a mere legend, then no one would think 'Alucard' was the same creature and in a way he isn't." He chuckled. "If it is too confusing for you to think of father and son both calling themselves Alucard, then refer to me by my real name: Adrian."

"What's your story?" Beast Boy asked Julius.

"I'm the latest in a long line of vampire slayers," Julius replied. "And I'm the best, by the way."

"Sure you are, honey," Rayne drawled.

"It is very good that you wish to take down the Initiative with us," Starfire said. "We could certainly use the assistance."

"Sure thing, beautiful," Julius answered with a wink.

"How did you get here?" Cyborg asked. "I thought vampires – even half-vampires – couldn't stand to cross water."

"Shadow-walking spell," Adrian replied.

"I just got a message from the owner of that club Mai took me to," Robin interjected. "The clan leaders want to see me. I think I know why." His tone was quite grim. "Go on without me. I'll catch up as soon as I can." With that said, he ran across the bay and into the city, stopping at the nightclub to which Mai had introduced him.

* * *

Robin walked inside and made his way to the backroom, the vampires around him parting for him. Without even knocking, he telekinetically shifted the atoms of his body around the atoms of the door, effectively phasing through it. "Take me to them," he requested.

"Sure," the club owner replied. "I warn you, this isn't going to be fun for you. They're pissed. Very fucking pissed." He opened the secret doorway to the tunnel access and walked through, Robin following. They navigated the tunnels, making their way to the chamber where the local clan leaders resided. When they found them, the clan leaders gazed at Robin with stony expressions that betrayed almost nothing.

"Robin," the red sash-wearing clan leader spoke. "We are very disappointed with your performance thus far."

Robin glared. "The Initiative had a cyberpath on their side. That's how they were able to get past the security in Titans Tower."

"And because of your negligence, the vampires whose protection we entrusted to you have either died or abandoned you," the purple sash-wearing vampire answered.

"Are you going to punish me or something?" Robin sneered.

"No, we are going to test you," the red sash-wearing vampire replied. "We are going to see if you truly have the will to fight for the vampire community."

"And how are you going to do that?" Robin asked.

"You're going to fight our Death Dealers," the white sash-wearing vampire replied. "Our top seven, in actuality. We will take you to the field where you will do battle."

The clan leaders rose from the table and one gestured for Robin to follow them. Robin followed them through the tunnels, all the way to catacombs. "Is this where you're going to test me?" Robin asked.

"Yes," Ashurii, the blue sash-wearing vampire, replied. "Good luck to you. I would hate for you to die so soon."

Immediately, seven men and women emerged from the darkest shadows of the catacombs. The apparent leader was a woman in a cleavage-exposing strapless black dress. Her hair was a long and wavy black and her eyes were a dark, almost brownish red. A red tattoo resembling a snake eating its own tail rested just above her cleavage. Beside her stood a green-eyed, brunette woman wearing a dark purple spaghetti-strapped dress with the same tattoo as the other woman but above her left breast.

"Hello, Robin," the red-eyed woman greeted with an almost amorous smirk and tone. "I'm Lust. The woman beside me is called Sloth. The others are Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Pride, and Wrath."

Envy was an androgynous young man with palm tree-styled green hair and dressed in a small, midriff-baring black top and small black shorts with sock-like foot covers that left his heels and toes exposed. Gluttony was an extremely thin bald man with completely white eyes and dressed in a skintight black suit. Greed was a man with short brown hair and dressed in a fur-lined black vest over a sleeveless black shirt and leather pants. Pride was a black-haired man with a left eye bearing the same symbol as the tattoo on Lust and Sloth and dressed in a short-sleeved black shirt and black combat pants and boots. Wrath was a small teenage boy dressed similarly to Envy with long brown hair and purple eyes.

"You're all named after the seven deadly sins," Robin remarked. "Interesting."

"We're the elite of the Death Dealers, the Seven Deadly Sins," Envy said. "Emphasis on _deadly._"

Robin gazed at the Seven Deadly Sins. "Come on, then." He withdrew three Birdarangs and three Razorbirds from his belt, holding them between his fingers. "Let's do this!"

* * *

Meanwhile, the Titans – along with Mai, Julius, Adrian, and Rayne – had infiltrated the Initiative headquarters. This time, they did not go in unopposed; they ended up having to fight through ghouls. Kid Flash zipped around the ghouls, pummeling them with 100-mile-a-second punches. Starfire alternately blasted them apart with her starbolts and beat them down with superior strength. Raven used her soul-self to shred the ghouls, and Cyborg blew them apart with his Sonic Cannon. Beast Boy cut through the ghouls as the Werebeast, while Argent used Crimson Shadow to slice through them.

Mai was fighting the ghouls with sheer physical might and superior agility and reflexes. Julius withdrew his whip from his side and uncoiled it, lashing the ghouls with it and cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. Adrian drew his sword and sliced through the ghouls at speeds too great to be detected by an ordinary human. Rayne flipped her blades to combat position and used them to hack through ghouls at superhuman speeds.

"Pathetic," Rayne sneered as she hacked several more ghouls to pieces. "Can't these Initiative fuckers send anything better against us?"

"Be careful what you ask for, Rayne!" Cyborg shouted as he blasted a giant hole in another ghoul.

After the ghouls were beaten, a small contingent of Initiative soldiers arrived to challenge the group, with a fully healed Looker in the lead. Looker withdrew one of her pistols and attached the familiar blade to the muzzle, pointing it at the Titans. She tilted her head in a manner suggesting that she was smirking. "Agent BloodRayne, how nice to see you again."

"Nice seeing you, too, bitch," Rayne retorted.

Looker dashed toward Rayne with inhuman velocity, only for Rayne to block Looker's gun-blade with an arm-blade. Rayne swung her leg up to kick Looker, but Looker twirled out of the way and fired her other pistol at Rayne. The latex-clad dhampir dodged the shots and swung her arm-blades at Looker, who dodged.

Around the two fighting redheads, the Initiative soldiers armed their rifles and fired at the other intruders. Julius sliced through the rifles with his whip and lashed the Initiative soldiers with that same whip. Adrian dodged the bullets with superhuman alacrity and dashed up close to one of the soldiers, slicing his rifle in two with his sword. Then Adrian punched the soldier into the wall, only for the soldier to bounce off and onto his feet. The soldier drew one of his smaller pistols, but Adrian beat him to the punch by slicing the holsters off his hips.

Mai moved literally between bullets, tackling one soldier who had his rifle pointed at Starfire and knocking him down. She flipped off him, onto and off the wall and into a flying kick that knocked down several soldiers. She picked up one of the fallen soldiers' rifles and used it as a boomerang, throwing it at the soldiers' legs to trip them. Once they fell, she snatched up another rifle, jumped into the air, and strafed the Initiative soldiers.

Silver cross-styled boomerangs flew at the Initiative soldiers, slicing apart their rifles and landing back in Julius' hands. The rifle shells bounced harmlessly off Cyborg's armor and Raven's telekinetic shields, while Beast Boy, Kid Flash, Starfire, and Argent dodged them. Argent weaved between bullets, her newfound speed aiding her greatly in evading the gunfire. She jammed up their weapons with gooey red plasma and cut them apart with Crimson Shadow.

Looker and Rayne continued to battle, moving through the corridors at super-speed while fighting each other. Looker slashed at Rayne with her gun-blade, only for Rayne to dodge and retaliate with a swing of her arm-blades. Looker dodged the arm-blades and shot at Rayne with her other pistol, but Rayne dodged the bullets and kicked Looker. The masked redhead quickly recovered and slashed at Rayne with her gun-blade while firing with her pistol. Rayne dodged the gun-blade, but one of the bullets from the pistol grazed her exposed midriff.

Rayne hissed in pain. "Silver," she muttered. "Fuck."

Looker was upon her, slicing her in the side with the gun-blade. Rayne snarled in rage and her eyes flashed red. In a flurry of blades, she was upon Looker, slashing her repeatedly. When Looker managed to block, it was only after she'd been slashed several times. She was bleeding, but she wasn't done for yet. And Rayne was going to get a lesson in what exactly Looker was capable of.

* * *

Back in the catacombs, Robin was battling Lust, who had her fingernails extended into sharp claws. Robin was dodging Lust's claws, but even with his slowed perception of time, she was still inhumanly fast, almost too fast for Robin to keep up. As he fought her, Sloth had morphed into a black liquid and slithered over Robin's body, restraining him. Robin strained against her, but her liquid form was stronger than he expected. Shadow-matter burst from him, splattering Sloth's liquid form all over the walls of the catacombs.

Gluttony rushed Robin, tackling him with far greater strength than would be expected from one of his gaunt frame. Robin kicked Gluttony off him, only to be attacked by Envy. Robin flipped onto his feet and threw Razorbirds at Envy, only for Envy to flip out of the way of the Razorbirds and kick Robin into the wall. Lust practically flew over Envy and slashed Robin with her claws, shredding the shadow fabric of his shirt. Greed charged at Robin and slammed him back obininto the wall just as Robin had moved away from that wall. Wrath touched the wall of the catacombs and his arm took on a stony appearance. He rushed at Robin and punched him with that rocky fist, but Robin ducked and Wrath's fist went through the wall.

Robin lunged at Pride, but Pride grabbed his wrist and swung him into the wall. Robin quickly recovered and materialized a blade from his shadow-metal hand, slashing at Pride with it. Pride dodged each and every one of Robin's swings. Pride smirked at the Dark Squire and grabbed him by his wrist, this time slamming him into the ground. Robin repelled him with a telekinetic burst, but Pride flipped back onto his feet.

A regenerated Sloth rushed at Robin again, assaulting him with the speed and force of a tidal wave. Robin blocked her punches to the best of his ability, but the punches hurt more than he expected them to. Even his shadow-metal arm was aching from her strikes. Wrath and Envy flipped over Sloth to attack Robin in tandem with her. Robin blocked their attacks to the best of his ability, but some made it past his defenses and they hurt.

Gluttony, Greed, Pride, and Lust attacked Robin on all sides, with slashes from Lust and punches from Gluttony, Greed, and Pride. Robin blocked as best as he could, but they were even faster and stronger than he was expecting them to be. "What's the matter, vampire demigod?" Greed asked mockingly. "Not so tough, after all?"

"You haven't seen how tough I am yet," Robin retorted, slashing Greed with his shadow blade, only to find that Greed hadn't been affected at all by the slash. "What the –?"

"Ultimate shield," Greed explained. "We've all evolved a special power. That's why we're the elite of the Death Dealers."

"Ultimate lance," Lust supplied, slashing Robin.

"Ultimate lightning," Envy added, striking Robin with superhuman speed and force.

"Ultimate liquid," Sloth purred, wrapping around Robin in liquid form once again and constricting him.

Wrath pressed his hand against the ground of the catacombs and his arm hardened into a stony substance. "Ultimate absorber."

Gluttony grabbed Robin by his head and Robin felt his very energy being drained. "Ultimate consumer."

Pride locked eyes with Robin, tilting his head to emphasize the left eye. "Ultimate eye."

"So you all have special powers," Robin snarled, despite having been drained by Gluttony, who actually looked refreshed. "So fucking what? I'm not going to be beaten by you. Not gonna make it easy for you."

"I like that," Lust purred. "I like that fire in your eyes. We'll snuff it out, but I like it."

Robin chuckled darkly. "Snuff this . . ." Psychokinetic force exploded from his body in all directions, pushing away the Seven Deadly Sins and splattering Sloth's liquid form all over the walls of the catacombs. The Sins came after him again, but Robin materialized his shadow-matter blade and fought through them.

His blade clashed with Lust's claws, while Wrath's transformed arm was cut off. Envy attacked Robin with inhuman swiftness, but Robin blocked with that same swiftness, ignoring the pain from Envy's blows. Robin kicked Greed in the stomach, only for Greed to ignore the kick and grab Robin's ankle, swinging him around. Robin slipped out of Greed's grip and spun around Greed to kick him with his other foot. Greed blocked that as well and Robin flipped away from him, subsequently being blocked from attacking Pride.

"You can see my next moves, can't you?" Robin deduced. He smiled darkly. "Well, then . . . why don't I show you how useless it is to be able to see my next moves if you can't follow them?"

* * *

Back at the Initiative headquarters, Looker and Rayne continued to fight. "You really ought to be on our side," Looker said to Rayne.

"Why's that?" Rayne asked.

"You're a vampire hunter," Looker replied as she evaded a swing of Rayne's arm-blade. "We also hunt vampires."

"No, you don't," Rayne answered. "Not just to kill them. You use them to make vampiric super-soldiers that you plan on using for your wars. And I've already had to deal with one bunch of megalomaniacs that thought they could harness the powers of vampires for warfare."

Looker shot at Rayne again, but Rayne blocked the bullet with one of her arm-blades. She swung her other arm-blade at Looker, who was nicked in the cheek by the arm-blade. "Starting to get tired?" Rayne mocked.

"I can outlast you," Looker retorted.

"We'll see," Rayne answered boldly.

Looker laughed. "This is getting to be so much fun I might not be able to help myself much longer, but all the same, I have to wrap this up." A telekinetic blast sent Rayne flying down the corridor, Looker speeding behind her and kicking her in the back, thus sending her flying again but in the opposite direction. Rayne threw her arms out, using her arm-blades to scrape the walls and slow her unwilling flight. She stopped herself and dashed toward Looker while scraping the walls with her arm-blades.

Looker smirked at Rayne and pointed her pistol at the latex-clad dhampir, firing. Unfortunately for her, Rayne saw the bullet coming and evaded it while continuing her headlong rush toward Looker, who continued to shoot while Rayne continued to evade. Finally, Rayne ran Looker through with both arm-blades. Looker's mask darkened around the portion concealing her mouth, signaling that she had coughed up her own blood. Rayne pulled out the blades and walked away from Looker, smiling wickedly.

"So long, babe," she said. "You were fun while you lasted." She wandered into the midst of the remaining Initiative soldiers. "See this blood? It belongs to your leader. Went through her like butter." She raised one of her arm-blades to her mouth and licked it sensually, letting out a low moan of pleasure afterward.

"You bitch!" one of the Initiative soldiers yelled, beginning to open fire on her. Rayne dodged the bullets and whooshed past the soldier, who collapsed in his own blood.

"Enough!" a voice shouted, prompting everyone to turn in the direction the voice had come from. A lab-coated human woman, seemingly no older than 30, stood amidst of the fight. She had long black hair and dark green eyes, the lab-coat being worn over a red blouse and tan slacks. "You can stand down. There is nothing to be gained from fighting any further."

"But, Dr. Walsh –!" one of the Initiative soldiers protested, only to be cut off by a raised hand from her.

"But nothing. It's clear that the biotechnology we've developed up till now isn't enough to fight adversaries of their caliber. Not yet, anyway. That's why we need the masked one."

"You talking about me?" Kid Flash asked. "I do wear a mask, after all."

"Not you," Dr. Walsh answered. "Your leader. Robin. Where is he?"

"Somewhere you cannot harm him!" Starfire replied fiercely.

"Somehow, that boy is far stronger than the average vampire," Dr. Walsh said. "Then again, we've mostly been gathering young vampires. Vampires older than a century or so are too elusive, but your leader defies that. I suppose it's due to the presence of the vampire progenitor inside him. From our observation of him, he is possibly the equal of Hellsing's assassin Alucard. If we were to get our hands on him, we could . . ."

"And what the hell makes you think we'd let you anywhere near him?!" Argent asked furiously.

"You're very loyal to him, aren't you?" Dr. Walsh observed.

"We all are!" Beast Boy answered. "Robin's our friend, he'd risk his life for us and we'd do the same for him!"

"A leader who can command that kind of loyalty is a commendable one," Dr. Walsh complimented. "But as long as Robin exists, with the power that he has now, you will all be in danger just from being around him. Vampire hunters will come for him, spurred on just by what he is. Additionally, we will not stop until we have him and if we must, we will use his loyalty to you as a persuasive tool." She chuckled briefly. "If you're so sure you're ready for that, then go ahead. Go back to him."

* * *

Speaking of Robin, the Dark Squire was moving at speeds too great for Pride to counter, even with his ultimate eye. Pride attempted to attack Robin, but Robin was dodging Pride's assaults with frightening ease. In addition, Robin was retaliating with blows that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"What did I tell you?" Robin asked, his voice seemingly omnipresent. "It's useless to see my next moves if you can't keep up."

Lust shot her finger-blades at Robin, only for Robin to move out of the way and slice her extended nails off. He took her down with a fast thrust of his fingers at her stomach, the blow coming with such force that his hand went through her back. Robin withdrew his bloodied hand as Lust collapsed, only for Sloth to slither at him in liquid form. Robin's answer was to withdraw a special Birdarang and throw it at her fluid self. She caught it, only for the Birdarang to explode and freeze her in liquid form. Robin sped through her frozen self, shattering her.

Envy came after Robin, only for Robin to easily block his attacks. "Some ultimate lightning you are," Robin jeered. That prompted Envy to attack him with even more ferocity, but Robin swung his leg out and kicked Envy in his exposed stomach, sending him flying. Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, and Pride teamed up against Robin next, but Robin was moving with such speed that he was only intermittently visible to them, not to mention that every time he became visible to them, he inevitably "vanished" before they could retaliate against him.

"So what if you've gotten faster?" Greed taunted. "I'm still the ultimate shield, bitch!"

"Not for long," Robin promised cryptically.

Greed didn't even have time to try to guess what Robin meant by that, as he was suddenly punched in the gut . . . and it hurt. "What the fuck?! How in fuck did you do that, you little bastard?!"

"Telekinetically manipulated your atoms," Robin replied. "Your ultimate shield is useless against me." He moved around Greed, slicing him to ribbons with his shadow-matter sword and finishing with a strong kick to his chest that sent him flying into the wall. The others fell to him in short order, even Pride, who was so utterly baffled by an opponent who was too fast to defend against even if his ultimate eye could see that opponent's next moves. He grabbed Pride by the throat and smirked cruelly at him. "I still have some wounds that need healing and I haven't gotten any blood to help me heal yet."

Robin bit the vein in Pride's neck, drinking his blood. The combat precog's blood had a pleasant kick to it, almost like strong vodka. Not that Robin would know, because he made a point of not drinking alcohol, but he could imagine that that was what it would be like. Once he was finished, he dropped Pride and smirked as his wounds healed. His shadow-matter arm became flesh and blood once again, while the wounds that his shadow-matter had spread to cover were replaced with renewed flesh and blood. His left eye became organic, too, but instead of the normal blue, his eye became silver with three black slits around the pupil in a pattern resembling a crooked triangle while his right eye had toned down from red to indigo.

"I feel stronger now," he murmured. "And I can see . . . so much more." He looked up at the clan leaders, speaking more clearly and more boldly. "You wanted to see what I was capable of, to see if there was a way you could harness my powers for your benefit, to keep yourselves at the top of the food chain." He smiled dangerously at them. "Unfortunately, I don't intend to be your toy soldier."

"You may have power, boy, but we have centuries of experience on you," the red sash-wearing vampire answered.

"Oh, don't worry; I don't intend to overthrow you. I simply want to be left alone, but if you come after me, if you try to use the people I care about as leverage to get me to do what you want, there is no limit to how hard and how fast I will bring this fight to your halls of power. Got that?" Moving faster than even the highest caliber of bullet, Robin departed from the catacombs.

* * *

Robin raced to the Initiative's headquarters, stopping right behind a lab-coated brunette woman his comrades' thoughts identified as Dr. Walsh. "Boo."

Dr. Walsh jumped and whirled to face Robin. "You're . . . Robin. In the flesh."

"In the flesh." A dark smile colored his expression. "Now, what's this about wanting to harvest my body and blood to even more greatly enhance your vampire hunters?"

"We need a counterpoint to you vampires. You already control much of human society from behind the scenes. If you wanted to, you could completely take over. We humans have decided that we want to be able to fight you should you attempt to take over. That's what the pseudo-dhampirs are for."

Robin grabbed her by the lapels of her coat and pulled her to him. "And to do that, you're willing to kidnap and experiment on innocent vampires."

"You're not innocent. You're stronger than us, faster than us, and smarter than us. We need to be able to fight you on an even playing field."

Robin pushed her away. "Do what you want to me, but threaten my team, my friends, my _family . . ._ and you're _dead._ Got me?" He walked away from her and into the midst of his teammates. He looked to them once. "Let's go home."

As Robin walked away with his comrades, Dr. Walsh clenched her fists. _Who does that bloodsucking brat think he is?_

* * *

End Notes: There you go. Normally, such scenes end with a promise of vengeance on the part of the affronted antagonist, but I decided to leave it more suggested than explicitly stated. For your information, the "Seven Deadly Sins" that appeared in this chapter are based on the Homunculi from the anime Fullmetal Alchemist, but they are not the same characters. Looker is actually a character from DC Comics, a member of Batman's Outsiders team who possessed psychic powers and later became a vampire. In here, she's one of the Initiative's pseudo-dhampirs. Furthermore, Adrian's explanation of his father's modern activities is my way of reconciling Hellsing's Alucard (a.k.a. Dracula) with Castlevania's Dracula. Anything else, ask me in a review or a PM and put your critiques or remarks in a review or PM as well. Thank you, bye-bye.


	9. Suffer For Your Freedom

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 9: "Suffer For Your Freedom"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano. Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes and Julius Belmont belong to Konami and Rayne belongs to Majesco. The Initiative is a concept from Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Wamphyr is Brian Lumley's version of the vampire from Necroscope. See all this stuff and these people that don't belong to me? Good, now I have a lesser chance of being sued.

Author's note: Sorry for my time away; I was busy coming up with ideas for this chapter and working on other story ideas. Anyway, this chapter is going to feature some curveballs thrown your way and I don't want to spoil them for you, so let's do this.

* * *

"_Resurrection . . . is for those who didn't get it right . . . the first time."_ – Otep, "Sacrilege"

* * *

"Hey there, Slade," a young boy's voice greeted the demonic mastermind, whose singular eye searched for the intruder in his lair.

"What are you doing here?" Slade asked.

"I'm here to propose an alliance," the boy replied.

"For what purpose?" Slade asked.

"My commander and you want the same thing," the boy stated with a smirk. "A world of chaos, a world where blood freely pours down the streets, a world that is an endless waking nightmare, a world that is hell incarnate." The smirk grew more twisted. "How does that sound to you?"

Slade pulled out his longsword and swung in a particular direction, surprised to find that his blade had not found purchase in anyone's vulnerable flesh. That surprise did not show, as he kept his expression and body language composed within his suit. He simply turned around and found a young cat-eared blond boy standing there, dressed in a tan Nazi uniform.

"Nazi, huh?" Slade remarked. "I thought you fools went out of fashion after World War II."

"Oh, we're after something quite different than what you think when you think of the word 'Nazi,'" the boy responded. "In fact, Hitler was a short-sighted moron. We simply want to sink this world into the bowels of hell itself. Does that sound like fun to you?"

"Actually, it sounds very much like fun. My kind of fun, that is."

"And don't worry. We'll give you all the help you need against those Teen Titans, particularly the one called Robin."

"_No._ Deal with the others however you choose. _Robin_ belongs to me."

"If you insist." He smirked. "What about Raven?"

"Leave her to me. She and I have some personal matters to settle."

"Sounds like a plan. At least I get the hot alien chicks."

"Do what you will with them. Robin and Raven are all mine."

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, the other Titans were watching Robin train on the obstacle course, the difficulty level of which he'd adjusted to "lethal." He outran laser fire with a demonic ease and leaped over a chasm filled with sharp, tall spikes with a little boost from his telekinesis. Robotic fists pumped out of the ground, only for Robin to cut through them with a Birdarang saber. Training droids emerged armed with laser cutters, but Robin dodged and sliced through them with inhuman speed.

"He's been like this ever since we came back from the Initiative last week," Kid Flash remarked.

"Way to master the obvious," Mai jibed.

"He's pissed about something, but he's not saying what," Beast Boy added.

"You think it has anything to do with what happened to his left eye?" Cyborg asked.

"I'd bet on it," Raven replied. "He's been pushing himself like this . . . I'm scared for him."

"We all are," Argent said. "He's . . . I thought he was letting me in for a while, but now he's gone and stonewalled me."

"Someone wanna go down there and talk to him?" Cyborg asked.

"Not me," Beast Boy replied. "He set that training course to lethal! I don't wanna get my head sliced off down there!"

"I shall go," Starfire said, flying down into the obstacle course. "Robin!"

"What do you want?" Robin asked, flipping backward and throwing Birdarangs that embedded themselves in the training droids' chests and exploded.

"We are concerned for you, Robin," Starfire replied, remaining above the training course.

"Thanks," Robin said, "but I'm fine."

"No, you are not," Starfire replied. "You have been obsessively training ever since you returned to us from your meeting with the city clan leaders. What is the matter?"

"What's the matter?" Robin echoed harshly, his cape enclosing his body. "I'll tell you what the matter is. The matter is that these powers have brought us nothing but trouble! I have people who want my head simply for being what I am and people who want to use me because of what I am! I failed the people who trusted me to protect them! Tell me, Starfire, with all this power that I have now, why am I still powerless to protect the people I need to protect?!"

Starfire floated down to Robin's level. "You are not powerless."

"I wish I could believe that, Star. I really wish I could." He began walking away from the training course and away from Starfire, who watched him walk by sadly. He stopped only when he felt a pair of slim yet strong arms wrap around his middle.

"Stay," Argent whispered. "Stay with me."

"Argent . . ." Robin turned around in Argent's arms, looking into her eyes with his own mismatched ones.

"You're our heart, Robin. You never give up, so don't start now. Please don't start now, or I'll kick your ass. Got me?"

Robin found a smile making its way onto his face. "Yeah. I got you. Always."

Starfire watched Robin and Argent with no small feeling of jealousy in her heart. Why was it that she could not comfort Robin, after knowing him for all this time, and Argent – who was almost a stranger – could? She felt guilty for her thoughts, but she had loved Robin first. He had freed her from her chains and she had claimed her first kiss from him. Why could they not be together? What was it about the silver-skinned plasma wielder that made Robin gravitate toward her? What could they possibly share that was so much stronger than what she and Robin had?

Raven watched Starfire watching Robin and Argent with some sympathy for Starfire and some sadness for herself. She knew Starfire still loved Robin with everything she had, knew that Robin had been her first and possibly truest love. She knew how much it hurt for Starfire to see Robin with someone else, but it didn't hurt as much as knowing that her own love had been subverted by his monster of a father and now she was forced to be his jailer. She knew the twisted thing that had once been the boy she loved was simply biding his time, waiting patiently, recovering his strength.

She clenched her fists. Slade would pay for this. He would pay for what he had twisted Jericho into. She would rip that payment out of his blackened heart and she would make him choke on her pain. If it killed him, so be it. She bowed her head, her eyes faintly crimson with her repressed wrath.

The boys watched with varying degrees of worry. There was a lot of emotional tension that had built up over the past week. Robin was pushing everyone away again, just like he did when he was obsessed with Slade. Starfire was pining away after Robin, tortured by the knowledge that he would not love her the way she wanted him to. Raven was straining to contain the warped creature that was once a Titan and the object of her secret affection and it was starting to show. Sooner or later, that tension would burst free and then they'd be in for it.

Robin heard the sound of a hypersonic jet approaching. He looked up, his eyes zooming in on a bat-winged fighter jet approaching Titans Tower. He looked more closely and saw a very familiar face in the cockpit. His eyes narrowed angrily.

"Robin?" Argent asked.

"Batman," Robin answered.

The jet hovered above the bay and the cockpit opened, allowing its pilot to climb out of the jet. Said pilot was garbed in dark gray body armor with black gloves and boots. A black bat symbol covered his chest and a dull yellow utility belt rested securely on his hips. A scalloped black cape wrapped around his shoulders and a bat-eared black cowl covered his head, leaving only his mouth and jaw exposed, his eyes hidden behind whiteout lenses.

"Dude!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "It's Batman! It's frigging Batman!"

"Now's not the time to act like a demented fanboy," Cyborg advised, "but man, does that guy have some sweet tech!"

"Yeah," Beast Boy agreed with proverbial stars in his eyes.

"Robin," Batman greeted tersely.

"Batman," Robin answered just as tersely. "What do you want?"

"I'm worried about you," Batman responded.

"Why? I thought you'd be happy to be working alone again."

"I'm worried because armed men and women attacked you and your friends in your Tower. That means your security is lacking."

"No, it's not lacking, it was broken into by a cyberpath."

"No excuse. Even cyberpaths can be circumvented. The fact of the matter is that you were caught unguarded. You're lucky you didn't lose any of your teammates."

"Don't lecture me. I didn't need it then and I don't need it now."

"Like it or not, you still have a lot to learn."

"And I've learned more from being here with a team, with friends, with a real family, than from being with you."

As the exchange went on, the other Titans and Mai watched, with Mai voicing what was on some of the Titans' minds: "Geez, what a prick."

If Batman heard her, he didn't react; his attention was focused on Robin, who was still holding Argent. "And you're getting involved with your teammates."

"So? We live together, we've bonded as teammates and friends; things like that happen when you don't dedicate every nanosecond of your life to self-repression."

"And you're not wearing your mask."

"Do I need it around them?"

"Do you want to protect your identity? You're not untouchable, after all."

Robin glared at Batman. "I'll wear the mask when I go out in public, but not when I'm alone with the Titans. And I'm going to ask one more time: What the hell do you want here?"

"I said I was worried about you."

"That's what you _said._ What do you _mean?_"

Batman stared into Robin's mismatched eyes. "I don't want to lose you."

"Then why did you fire me? Why did you tell me I couldn't be Robin anymore?"

"Because I didn't want you to die. If it meant clipping your wings and putting you in a cage, so be it. As long as you were still alive, that was all that mattered to me." A regretful chuckle issued from his mouth. "But robins were always meant to fly. I should have known that."

Robin smiled slowly. "Yeah. You should have."

"I've been looking into the people who attacked your Tower last week . . . and tracking certain movements in this city."

"Whose movements?"

Batman smiled. "With a little help." He turned to the jet, looking into its cockpit. "You can come out now."

Immediately, a lithe figure sprang out of the cockpit and landed agilely on the island. He straightened up to his full height, visible as a young man garbed in a skintight black suit with a red X slashed into the left breast. Gray gloves with red X's on the palms and backs covered his hands and forearms and a gray belt wrapped around his hips. A black cape with tattered edges rested on his shoulders and his face was concealed by a black mask with a white skull plate decorated by a red X.

Robin was so startled that he pulled out of Argent's arms. "Red X. What are you doing here?"

"Relax, kid. I'm on your side today."

"He's working with me," Batman stated. "I picked him up after he attempted to rob Wayne Enterprises' headquarters here."

"And how did you persuade him?" Robin asked.

"He's keeping me on a huge retainer and supplying me with refined zinothium," Red X replied. "In exchange, I steal from the real crooks and keep my ear to the ground on what they're up to."

"Such as a terrorist group named Millennium," Batman filled in. "They have bases in Germany and Brazil and they've linked up with the Fourth Reich here in this country."

"Fourth Reich?" Robin asked.

"Metahuman neo-Nazis, which makes a certain amount of sense when you consider that Millennium was originally a Nazi military organization."

"What does Millennium have to do with us?" Kid Flash asked.

"Everything," Batman replied. "They have a biotech modification process that enables them to transform humans into vampires."

"Like those Initiative wankers creating artificial dhampirs, only they're going all the way," Argent supplied.

"As far as I've been able to deduce, it's some kind of genetic re-sequencing," Batman said. "Some scientists have theorized that the real source of vampirism may be linked to segments of junk DNA that are starting to manifest themselves, triggering mutations similar to what humans have historically defined as vampirism." He looked more closely at Robin. "Jason Blood and Dr. Mid-Nite want to see you."

"Then I'll go see them," Robin answered.

"I can take you to them."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I can get there by myself. Just don't stay here and try to order my team around. Speaking of my team . . ." He looked at his teammates. "Cyborg, Raven, you two are in charge while I'm gone. I won't be long, though. And keep an eye on X so that he doesn't swipe any more of my stuff."

"I'll be good," Red X piped up with mischievous joviality.

* * *

Robin zoomed away from Titans Island, reaching Gotham City in the space of fifteen minutes and putting on a pair of motorcycle glasses to conceal his identity. He went to Jason Blood's secluded home and knocked on the door. _"I see you, young man,"_ a voice spoke from the intercom. _"Come in."_

The door opened and Robin walked inside, seeing artifacts from various bygone eras and all looking extremely authentic. It was as though the owner had owned them in the times they had been made and had preserved them for all those centuries. In Jason's case, Robin knew that was probably.

"Hello, Robin," a man's smooth voice greeted him. Robin turned to face a man dressed in a khaki jacket over a black shirt and gray slacks. The man had very short dark hair with a white streak running through it and dark eyes. "It's good to see you again."

"You wanted to see me," Robin said. "Is this about my powers?"

"Yes, the source of them to be precise. And also the origin of the monstrosity you faced when you took on Deathstroke."

"Deathstroke?"

"Known to you as Slade. Deathstroke was his title in a former life, one he has resumed since coming into his new powers."

"What's going on here?"

"The vampires and the Wamphyri are connected. When L'andira created the first vampire and that vampire began to create others, some humans grew envious. The only ones that could be converted were the ones who showed loyalty to L'andira and had noble hearts, as L'andira's worshippers did not want those with greed or other such evils in their hearts to gain the power that came from L'andira's essence. Those avarice-filled humans used dark magic to summon a leech from another world, a leech the leader infused into himself to become equal and opposite to the vampires L'andira had created. But the leech corroded the last vestiges of morality in him and he created others like him, other perverse excuses for vampires, the vampire shadows called Wamphyri.

"In response to this, the vampires battled the Wamphyri plague, learning how to contain it and stop it from spreading over time. In the realm of the gods, L'andira fought a war against her fellow gods, who had seized the opportunity to turn on her. She fought valiantly, but the Wamphyri managed to take many of her worshippers and without their faith, she weakened just enough for the traitorous gods to trap her in the Silent Zone. The remnants of her worshippers scattered, but they would wait, they would bide their time until they found someone with a body strong enough to hold L'andira's essence so she could lead them on Earth."

"That's what happened?"

"Yes, and now in addition to the resurrected Wamphyr threat, there is Millennium."

"Batman told me about them. Nazi military organization turned terrorist group and they're using artificial vampires."

"Yes, they are inducing mutations in ordinary humans that make them gain abilities similar to those of supernatural vampires." Jason looked at Robin. "I would like to communicate with L'andira for a moment. Would you let me?"

Robin nodded, removing his motorcycle glasses. "Yes."

Jason reached out to Robin, touching his forehead and looking into his indigo eye and silver eye. Instantly, Robin found himself in his mindscape, with Jason's mental image there as well. L'andira's mental image was present before them, garbed in the same way she had been when Robin first saw her. She smiled at Jason and Robin.

_You wanted to see me?_

_Yes,_ Jason answered. _I wanted to meet you. I wanted to see if you could be trusted to remain inside Robin without trying to subvert him._

_The way the Wamphyr leeches subvert anyone they possess? I would not do such a thing to Robin. There are certain things he must realize about being a vampire, but that does not mean I want to see his free will utterly subverted. And . . . I'm rather fond of him, despite his shyness about sexuality and his rather silly desire to abstain from killing._

_I suppose I should be grateful for that,_ Robin remarked._ And it's my "silly desire to abstain from killing" that separates me from monsters like Deathstroke._

_If you insist._ A coy smile found its way onto L'andira's lips, the glimmer in her eyes promising . . . something.

Having culled all he needed to know from L'andira's mind, Jason pulled himself back into the real world, Robin soon following. "I'm going to have to see Dr. Mid-Nite now," Robin said. "Still, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Jason answered.

* * *

Robin departed from Jason Blood's home and broke into a run toward the Justice Society's headquarters. Once there, he climbed up onto the rooftop and opened the skylight. He slipped on the motorcycle glasses once more and jumped through the skylight, landing in front of the assembled collection of veteran and not-so-experienced heroes. His cape closed around him like a cloak, enveloping his body as a smirk came to his lips at the startled expressions on their faces.

"What the hell was that about, Bat-brat?!" Power Girl, Superman's cousin from a parallel universe, asked furiously.

Robin chuckled. "Sorry about the surprise, Power Girl." He looked around and found Dr. Mid-Nite. "Just the man I wanted to see. Or who wanted to see me. Makes no difference now; we're in the same place now."

Jay Garrick, the original Flash, looked at Robin with a scolding expression. Robin shrugged. "I said I was sorry," the Dark Squire grumbled.

"Come with me, Robin," Dr. Mid-Nite said, escorting Robin into the medical lab. "Sit down on the medical table."

Robin sat on the medical table and pushed back his cape. "What now?"

"I'm going to take a blood sample so I can examine your DNA," Dr. Mid-Nite replied, taking out a syringe and swabbing a spot on Robin's arm. He plunged the syringe into that spot, the needle puncturing the vein and the syringe taking blood from that vein. Once it was over with, the small puncture wound closed, prompting Dr. Mid-Nite to look at Robin curiously. "I know that was probably only a small example, but that was an impressive feat of healing."

"You don't know the half of it." Robin got off the medical table and onto his feet. "Thanks, Dr. Mid-Nite."

"I'll call you when I find something worth noting, and I think I'm going to be calling you a lot."

"Just make a list and call me when it's full."

Dr. Mid-Nite chuckled softly. "You have a better sense of humor than your mentor."

"_Everyone_ has a better sense of humor than him." Robin walked out of the medical lab and back into the midst of the Justice Society. "Sorry about my intrusion and I'm going to leave now."

"Not that way you aren't," Wildcat grumbled. "Come with me, kid." He escorted Robin out of the Justice Society's brownstone. "And don't do that again."

"I'll try not to," Robin muttered, running back to Titans Island. As he approached it, he saw Alucard waiting for him along with the other Titans. "Alucard. What brings you here?"

* * *

"The fact that eventually, I'll have to kill you," the Victorian-styled vampire replied.

"Why's that?"

"Cohabitating with vampires, for one thing. Then going and losing them all. Highly incompetent for someone of your leadership caliber, but then you're young and inexperienced when it comes to maintaining a vampire clan, so I suppose that can be forgiven. Not to mention that you bested this city's clan leaders' best Death Dealers, the so-called Seven Deadly Sins. Not that deadly, were they? And you've taken the power of one of them, haven't you?"

"How do you know all this?"

"I'm not just a highly efficient killer of vampires. I'm also very skilled at observing, although I much prefer the killing." He smiled, but there was no mirth in it. "And you've gone and converted your lover. Never a wise thing to do, to make a vampire just because you want to hold onto them forever. Time has a way of changing things and would you want an ex-lover haunting you into the centuries to come?"

"I had no choice. It was either that or she would become an even worse creature."

"Ah, the Wamphyr menace has returned to rear its unsightly head. And your worst enemy has become one of them and allied himself with Millennium."

"I've heard a lot of talk where Millennium is concerned. We already know about Millennium joining up with Slade, but why?"

"Because their objectives are the same! A world of chaos, a world of madness and bloodshed! An endless nightmare of a war!" Alucard threw his head back in a mad laugh. "Come, Robin! Do you not see the opportunity presented to you?! Enemies who might actually be worth crushing! Can you truly bear to wait for them to come?!"

"You're insane!"

Alucard calmed down to a mere chuckle. "You sad, sad boy. Still so new to the joys of vampirism. Well, you'll experience the opportunity for battle soon. Very, very soon." With one more laugh, he stepped onto the boat that had guided him to Titans Tower and steered it away, leaving Robin scared out of his wits, both of Alucard and of himself.

* * *

End Notes: That's a good point to end this story. The cat-eared boy that appeared to Slade is Schrödinger from the Millennium Organization in Hellsing, as this still is a Hellsing crossover. The characters affiliated with the Justice Society come from DC Comics, as do Jason Blood and Batman. Alucard I'm sure you know if you're aware of Hellsing to any degree.

Anyway, things have gotten awfully fierce. Now we know some of L'andira's background and Slade has teamed up with Millennium, who in turn has recruited some neo-Nazi super-villains to act as their arm in America. And Alucard's in the mix, as always . . . man, oh, man, is this going to be a cauldron of hellfire or what?


	10. Bright Red Scream

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 10: "Bright Red Scream"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano. Any other vampire concepts that show up will most likely be borrowed from other sources, so unless I specifically note it in my author's notes or end notes, it's probably not mine. Except for Mai, that is. She's definitely a creation of mine.

Author's note: I know I've been away for a while and I apologize for that. However, some recent reviews have given me the kick-start I need to get back in the game for this story. First, I must respond to the claim that I have made Robin too powerful, if titans such as Alucard and Anderson can be stalemated by him. In all fairness, Robin has a goddess sealed inside him, so that makes him considerably more powerful than the average vampire. If that offends you, let's just say he's going to meet his match soon enough. In the meantime, on with the story.

* * *

Robin looked at his reflection in the mirror in his room. His skin was definitely paler, not quite the moon-pale that Argent was, but it no longer had that subtle hint of gold that came from his Romany background in his father's side of the family. His eyes were different, too; his right eye remained blue, but with a hint of crimson that gave it an indigo tint. His left eye, on the other hand, was forbidding silver with three slits around the pupil in what was the pattern of a crooked triangle. He pulled his lips back in a grimace, noting that his canine teeth had definitely grown sharper and longer.

_Admiring yourself?_ L'andira asked, just before her image appeared in his mirror, standing over his image. Her image wrapped its arms around his image, holding it close to her. "You were a handsome boy as a mortal. Now you are beautiful, truly beautiful. Argent must be the envy of your female teammates, particularly the one you call Starfire."

"Starfire understands that we can't be," Robin whispered.

"Does she?" L'andira asked. "You may be an oblivious fool when it comes to emotions, but I am not. I know what lurks in Starfire's heart. She wants to be yours. She wants to be the one who comforts you, who chases away the demons in your psyche. But she can't be, can she? Because those inner demons will taint her, ruin her, sully her, and then she'll no longer be your precious innocent Starfire."

"Shut up," Robin snarled, whirling around despite the fact that L'andira's only physical manifestation was in the mirror.

L'andira laughed merrily. "You told her you needed your inner demons to function, that without them you wouldn't be who you are. You'd just be Dick Grayson, and you need to be Robin more than you need to be Dick. You're just like your mentor; your real self is tied up in the identity you've crafted for yourself."

Robin twisted back around to confront L'andira's image in his mirror. "Shut up! What do _you_ know?!"

"Plenty," L'andira answered. "I'm part of you now. I've eked out a little corner for myself inside your psyche and I've used it to plumb the secrets you hide from everyone, including yourself."

"Really," Robin sneered. "If you know everything about me, then tell me something I don't know."

"You want them both," L'andira whispered. "One to fulfill your dark knight complex and the other to be your partner in the dark. But according to the rules of human society, you can't have them both." She chuckled amusedly. "But there is a way for you to get what you want, to have it all. You just have to trust me."

"Trust you?" Robin asked. "After the times you've made me lose control of myself?"

"But you like it when I do that to you," L'andira purred, stroking the shoulder of Robin's image sensually. "It's release, but there are more fun ways of releasing that tension. Ways you could explore with Argent . . . or Starfire . . . or even Raven." She pouted at Robin's displeased scowl. "Oh, I forgot, Raven's in love with Jericho. Oh, well. We can still get him as a present for Raven."

"I thought you said there was nothing you could do for a Wamphyr infection," Robin said.

"Oh, there's nothing _I_ can do," L'andira answered, "but there's plenty Argent and Thanatos can do. Their Soul Slayer can cleanse souls and since poor Joey is currently an astral body trapped inside Raven's soul, he qualifies."

Robin's eyes widened slightly with hope. "Raven will be glad to hear that."

"It won't be as easy as it sounds," L'andira cautioned. "The leech-thing won't go quietly. It'll make noise. Lots of noise and it can be detrimental to Raven's spiritual well-being."

"If there's the slightest chance we can save Joey, what choice do we have?" Robin asked. He picked up his motorcycle goggles and put them on, covering his eyes. He exited his room and went to Raven's door, knocking on it. "Raven?"

No answer, so he knocked again. "Raven?"

Still, no answer, so Robin knocked a third time. "Raven!?"

This time, the door slid open, revealing Raven to Robin's introspective gaze. "What is it?"

"According to L'andira, Argent and Thanatos' Soul Slayer can purify Jericho," Robin replied. "Since he's an astral body trapped in your mindscape, he qualifies as a disembodied spirit."

"And do you trust that her information is accurate?" Raven asked.

_It is,_ L'andira replied via a telepathic link to Raven. _Why would I lie?_

_You're not the most trustworthy of deities,_ Raven replied, _but then, deities are rarely fully trustworthy. They come with their own agendas and many of them are just as petty as humans but with divine power to back up that pettiness._

"We can trust her," Robin said. "And this is a chance for us to get Joey back."

"All right, then," Raven conceded. "Get Argent."

* * *

Robin walked to Argent's room, knocking on her door. "Come in," he heard her call out, so he did. To his surprise, he saw Argent lying on her front in nothing but a pair of crimson panties with a bow on the rear. She had posed herself in a seductive manner and she was smiling at Robin. "Hey, Robin . . ."

"Argent," Robin answered calmly, despite the blush tinting his cheeks.

"Good that you came," she said. "Now we can work on coming together." The widening smile let him know her meaning immediately, as if the panties weren't demonstration enough of her intentions.

"We don't have time for that now, Argent," Robin said.

"Is it just me, or does a bloke who turns down a naked girl offering him sex have serious issues?"

"This has nothing to do with my issues. This has everything to do with getting Jericho back to our side. Your Soul Slayer can help us do that. I promise, we'll have all the sex you want after we get through with this."

Argent laughed. "Isn't it supposed to be the girl who says that to the bloke?"

"Just get dressed," Robin grunted.

Argent immediately rose from bed and shucked her panties, revealing her naked sex . . . with a small teardrop-shaped tuft of black hair above it. Robin's blush darkened and he looked away. As he busied himself with trying not to look, Argent donned her frayed multilayered red skirt and black corset. Then she called out to Robin, "Mind helping your girlfriend zip up her corset?"

Robin flushed. "Argent, I'm not sure that's . . ."

"You can help me now, or look away like an embarrassed little boy when the damn thing falls off and I'm showing friend and foe my tits," Argent answered bluntly.

That argument was clearly persuasive enough that Robin found himself behind Argent, zipping up the back of her corset. As he pulled the zipper up to the top, he watched the shift of her shoulders as she breathed, observing that she had forgotten for the moment that breathing was now optional for her. Once it was over with, she slid on her knee-high black socks and donned her buckled red shoes. She finished the ensemble with her black arm-covers, which extended over the backs of her hands and palms, and hairclips in the red streak in her hair.

"Let's go," she said.

Robin followed Argent out of her room and they went to Raven's room. Once there, Argent knocked. "Hey, Raven! You in there?"

"Come in," Raven answered.

Robin telekinetically shifted his atoms around the atoms of the door, effectively phasing inside the room. Once through the door, literally, he opened the door for Argent, who stepped inside. "We're here."

"Good," Raven said, holding up her mirror, the mirror that accessed her mindscape. The mirror flashed four glowing crimson eyes before extending its shadowy hands to grab Robin and Argent, pulling them inside.

* * *

"So glad you're here . . ." a cruel, silken voice intoned.

Robin and Argent turned to find Jericho standing before them, his astral body glowing with a malevolent light. Cold red eyes stared at the duo as his hands stretched into claws. "What's the matter? Are you here to 'save' me?"

"Yeah, we are," Argent replied, materializing Crimson Shadow. Jericho lunged at her, only for her to dodge and slash him with the soul-cutting sword. Jericho howled in pain and spun on his heel, savagely attacking her. Red constructs grabbed Jericho and held him fast. "Now stay still, this won't hurt a bit . . ."

"Well, you would look delectable in a nurse's outfit," Jericho mused lecherously before phasing out of her constructs. "Please don't expect those flimsy things to hold me."

"Really?" Argent asked. "How about this, then?" She held up Crimson Shadow.

_Are you sure you're ready for this, Toni?_ Thanatos asked.

_Sure I'm sure,_ Argent answered.

_Then let's do this,_ Thanatos said.

Speaking along with Thanatos' voice in her mind, Argent called out, "Squall, Crimson Shadow!" A ring of red energy formed around Argent's feet, the energy rising up and wrapping around her and her sword. She pointed the sword at Jericho and the sword changed its shape, becoming a serpentine chain with a blade attached to the end. The chain rolled back into the hilt of the sword, leaving just a short blade on the hilt.

Robin's eyes widened behind the motorcycle goggles, feeling Argent's power spike tremendously. _What the hell was that?_

_The initial release of Argent's Soul Slayer,_ L'andira replied. _A death god actually goes around with part of his or her power sealed. The initial release loosens some of those seals, allowing the death god to use more of his or her power. As for the final release . . ._ A chuckle resounded in Robin's mind.

Argent flew into the air and swung her blade, releasing the chain from the hilt. The chain-blade swung at Jericho, slashing him in the face and eliciting a howl of pain from him. Jericho snarled in rage and jumped after Argent, who bound him with the chain section of her weapon. She flew down to the ground, carrying Jericho with her. She retracted the chain, freeing him, and he charged at her. Her answer was to extend the blade again via the chain and the blade pierced his heart.

Jericho gasped as his eyes shifted from glowing red to bright green. His clawed hands reverted to normal and the malevolent glow faded from his astral body. Argent pulled the blade out of his heart and the chain wound back into the hilt of Crimson Shadow. Jericho collapsed and Robin rushed to him, helping the body jumper back onto his feet.

"You ok?" Robin asked.

"I feel like me again," Jericho replied. "And at the same time, not quite me."

"Why don't we get back to the real world and take a look?" Robin asked.

"S-sure," Robin replied.

* * *

The three exited Raven's mindscape, entering her room. Jericho looked at Raven ruefully, still supported by Robin. "We'd better get him to the infirmary," Robin said. "See if he retains any of the Wamphyr infection."

"Sure," Raven answered, taking Jericho from Robin and letting the body jumper support himself on her. Robin and Argent followed the two into the medical lab, passing by Red X on the way.

"I was wondering when I'd see the famous Jericho," Red X quipped.

Jericho merely rolled his eyes up to look at the skull-masked thief wearily before Raven escorted him away. "Save it, X," she said to him.

They made it inside the infirmary, where Jericho was subjected to an intensive bio-scan and neural scan. Jericho looked at Raven curiously, silently asking her if there was anything with him. Raven bit her lip, wondering how she should answer him.

"As far as we've been able to ascertain, Argent's Soul Slayer freed your mind from the grip of the Wamphyr leech," Raven explained. "And it halted the progress of the infection. It didn't turn back the clock for you, though, so your biology is now partly vampiric in nature. It's possible for the infection to continue to spread if you drink blood, so we'll need to whip up a substitute that'll keep the leech sedated. But for the most part, you're you again."

Jericho smiled, baring small fangs. A thought came unbidden from within Raven's mind: _The fangs look cute on him._ Raven blushed at her thought and looked away.

Robin silently chuckled upon seeing this small scene. _After all this time, you still have a hard time expressing your feelings, don't you, Raven?_

Just then, he felt a tug on his arm. He turned to find Argent looking at him with expectant eyes. A smile formed on his face. "I did promise, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did, love," Argent replied. "Come on." She suddenly vanished, or that was what it would have looked like to normal eyes. Robin's eyes, on the other hand, saw that she was moving faster than those normal eyes could detect. Seeing her game, he gave chase at similar faster-than-sight speeds.

* * *

They made it to her room just in time for Argent to pin Robin to the bed and kiss him passionately. Robin kissed back just as passionately, running his hands down her corset-clad sides. His hands found their way to her hips, moving down to her legs and boldly sliding underneath her skirt. They edged up her thighs to grope her backside, finding no underwear covering it . . . at all.

Robin pulled away in surprise. "Commando?" he asked.

"Don't want to struggle with panties in the heat of the moment," Argent replied. "Now shut up and kiss me."

Robin kissed her again while kneading the flesh of her buttocks. Argent moaned into the kiss, sucking his tongue into her mouth and sucking on it as though it were another part of his anatomy. Robin groaned and arched against her, feeling his growing arousal rub against her pelvis. A soft hum escaped Argent's lips as she rubbed her pelvis against the evidence of her lover's arousal.

Robin pulled his hands out from underneath Argent's skirt and moved them up her back, finding his way to the zipper that kept her corset on. He slowly slid the zipper down her back, down until her corset was completely open. Argent pulled back from him, removing her corset and exposing her moon-silver breasts, capped in silver-pink nipples, to his gaze.

"Like what you see?" she asked sultrily.

"Yes," Robin replied.

Just then, the alarm rang. "Damn it!" Argent yelled. "Just as we were about to get to the good part!"

Robin smiled. "Well, take out that frustration on whatever troublemakers made that alarm go off in the first place."

"How can you be so calm?" Argent asked as she put her corset back on, Robin helpfully zipping her up.

"Practice," Robin answered simply.

The couple got off the bed and exited Argent's room, walking to the living-slash-ops room. "What's going on?" Robin asked.

* * *

Cyborg turned on the computer screen, showing an image of downtown Jump City. The image was one of chaos, people running away in fright as amorphous beasts chased them. The unlucky ones were caught by the beasts and savagely torn apart by the beasts' claws and teeth. Cyborg adjusted the image to turn ninety degrees and catch the visage of five onlookers, four male and one female. Two of the males were twins with shaved heads, one bare-chested with body paint all over his torso, leaving the remaining skin in the pattern of a swastika. The other wore a leather jacket and pants and had 666 tattooed on his chest and face, two sixes on his pecs and the third on his face, not to mention metallic black arms.

The male in the head was a tall, imposing blond man dressed in a black SS uniform with the prerequisite swastika badge on the chest. The fourth male was a metallic man with a metal swastika badge matching his surface on his chest. The sole woman was covered from head to toe in silver with a purple visor over her eyes and twin purple lightning bolts – the symbol of the SS – running down her uniform.

"That must be the Fourth Reich Batman warned us about," Robin deduced.

"Nazis," Cyborg grumbled. "I hate Nazis."

"Well, you'll get to kick the crap out of them," Robin answered. "Let's go."

The Titans, along with Mai and Red X, exited Titans Tower. Mai, Jericho, and Red X were passengers in Cyborg's T-Car, with Cyborg driving. Kid Flash ran across the bay connecting Titans Island to Jump City. Starfire, Raven, Argent, and Beast Boy flew, Beast Boy in the shape of a pterodactyl. Robin took his R-Cycle, following Cyborg in his T-Car.

* * *

When they arrived in downtown Jump City, they saw the chaos for themselves. The area stunk of death, something Robin and Jericho – with their vampiric senses – could detect quite clearly. Of course, the scent of death was obvious enough that they might not have needed those senses to know it was there.

"If it isn't the Teen Titans," the SS-uniformed man greeted. "I'm Captain Nazi. The twins are Swastika and 666; I'm sure you have the eyes to deduce which is which. Our strongman is Reichsmark; his very skin is coated with tungsten steel, making him exceptionally powerful. And the lovely woman with us is Baroness Blitzkrieg. Baroness, would you like to show these children why you have your name?"

Baroness Blitzkrieg nodded, and that was all the warning the Titans got before she went into action. In a blur of inhuman speed, she kicked Starfire in her exposed stomach, sliced Cyborg's arm off, dodged a charging rhino Beast Boy, and hit Raven before Raven could put up a shield. That wasn't the end of it, though; she threw Red X's explosive X-shuriken back at him and twisted Jericho's thrusting arm behind his back and threw him to the ground. She knocked Mai out cold before Mai could begin a counterattack and vibrated out of Argent's restraining constructs. Kid Flash attempted to intercept her, but she tossed him aside and literally ran through Robin before he could react.

"See?" Captain Nazi remarked.

"One, your name is ridiculous," Cyborg retorted, "and two . . ." He trailed off when he saw what had become of Robin. "NO!!"

"You killed him!" Starfire screamed. "_You killed him!!_" In a rage borne of grief, she flew at Baroness Blitzkrieg, assaulting her with meltdown-force starbolts and steel-crushing punches. Baroness Blitzkrieg easily evaded Starfire's attacks and caught Starfire's fist in her hand. Starfire simply generated energy around her fist so intense that it burned Baroness Blitzkrieg's hand, forcing her to let go. "You will pay for killing Robin!"

The other Titans charged at Baroness Blitzkrieg, but the other four members of the Fourth Reich intercepted and the battle was on. Captain Nazi proceeded to savagely tear Cyborg apart. With one punch, he had penetrated the armor around Cyborg's stomach and now there was a big hole in it. Cyborg retaliated with a blast from his sonic cannon, but Captain Nazi moved out of the way and crushed Cyborg's cannon arm.

"Little tin man, do you think you can fight me?" he asked cruelly.

Cyborg answered by raising his foot and firing the mini-cannon inside, blasting Captain Nazi. When the smoke cleared, Captain Nazi was still standing, looking very much unharmed. He grabbed Cyborg by the throat and tossed him aside, turning his attention to Argent, who had activated the initial release of her Soul Slayer and was lashing at Captain Nazi with her chain-blade. Captain Nazi caught the blade through his hand and used it to pull Argent to him, kneeing her in the stomach. Argent retaliated with a construct fist fired right into his face, knocking him down.

Beast Boy charged Reichsmark as a woolly mammoth, intending to ram him with his tusks. Unfortunately for him, Reichsmark caught him by those same tusks and threw him aside, only to be attacked by Red X's spinning X-blades. Reichsmark might have been strong, but he wasn't particularly fast, something Red X used to his advantage.

Raven and Jericho fought Swastika, who was throwing bone blades at them with the speed of bullets. Raven created shields to block the bone blades, while Jericho dodged with superhuman speed. He charged Swastika and slashed at him with his claws, only for Swastika to stab him with one of his bone blades. Jericho pushed himself off the bone blade and punched Swastika, while Raven struck the Nazi with a telekinetic pulse.

Kid Flash ran around 666, striking him with hundreds of punches in the space of seconds. "Take that, you stupid Nazi!"

Finally, 666 got tired of being Kid Flash's punching bag and socked him in the middle of one of his attacks. Kid Flash flew back and crashed into a car, 666 attacking before the Fastest Boy Alive could regain his bearings. Black metal fists pounded the speedster brutally, until Kid Flash finally snapped his hand up and caught one of those fists. 666 punched him with the other, but Kid Flash caught that as well, ramming his head into 666's. As it turned out, it hurt Kid Flash more than it hurt 666.

"That metal plate came in handy for something," 666 quipped sadistically.

Argent continued lashing out at Captain Nazi with Crimson Shadow. Her motions with the chain-blade were vengefully swift and precise. Captain Nazi was not going to get away with killing Robin, no way in hell. Unfortunately, he just kept dodging her attacks and when he managed to get a hit in, he did so with a brutality that would leave bruises, even with her accelerated healing rate.

Suddenly, monofilament tendrils wrapped around Captain Nazi, pulling him away from Argent. "What?!" Captain Nazi yelled, struggling to break free of the tendrils. "What is this?!" He looked and saw a writhing mass of darkness that had originated the tendrils. Deadly silver eyes glowed from within the mass, each one possessing three widened slits arranged around the pupil in a rough triangle. "You . . . you're supposed to be dead!"

"_Not for long,_" a rasping voice sneered from within the shadowy mass. "_But you'll be._"

"You will never kill me!" Captain Nazi roared. "I am the spirit, the embodiment of National Socialism! As long as there are those who believe in the Aryan Race, I will exist!"

"_Let's test that,_" the voice rasped out.

The tendrils dug into Captain Nazi . . . and tore, ripping him into pieces and spraying his blood. The dark mass absorbed the blood, letting out an unholy howl of triumph. The mass began writhing even more, struggling to substantiate itself. After about a minute, a humanoid form began to rise from the mass, with said mass clinging to him. The humanoid form simply absorbed the mass, which hardened into a quasi-organic black metal coating around his body. The coating covered most of his face, only leaving a sliver of his forehead and long black hair exposed.

"_That did it . . ._" the figure rasped out.

"He killed Captain Nazi!" 666 screamed. "He killed Captain Nazi!"

"_How astute,_" the figure sneered. "_And soon the rest of you will be dead, too._"

Reichsmark sneered at the black-armored figure. "I'm not afraid of you! We're vampires, too, and you better recognize our power!"

"_What power?_" the figure asked. "_I can tell right now, not one of you can match me or even hope to keep me busy. That was what you were planning, right? To keep me busy so that I wouldn't notice what your masters in Millennium were up to?_"

"Fuck!" Swastika exclaimed. "How do you know that, motherfucker?"

"_I know because the knowledge is in your erstwhile leader's blood,_" the figure answered. "_And now you're all dead._"

Reichsmark charged at the figure, only for the figure to seemingly vanish . . . and reappear behind him. Reichsmark turned slowly, just in time to receive a brutal backhanded smack from the black-armored figure. The smack sent him flying to the farthest intersection down the street.

"_Anyone want to go next?_" the figure asked cruelly.

Swastika fired his finger bones at the figure, who simply caught them and threw them back at him with the force of bullets. Swastika dodged his finger bones, generating new ones, only to land right into a kick from the figure. The kick dropped him on the ground brutally, and it was made worse by a kick that sent him skidding down the street.

"Robin . . ." Raven uttered, sensing the soul inside that figure, a soul that was being slowly consumed by its own powers.

"Robin?!" Red X cried out. "That guy's _Robin?!_"

666 rushed Robin, who smiled cruelly beneath his mask of shadow matter and grabbed the Nazi cyborg's outstretched arm. 666 attempted to punch him with his free hand, but Robin caught that hand as well. He pulled 666 close and head-bashed him with such force that the Nazi cyborg's brain matter and skull fragments splattered on his face. Robin pushed him aside and picked up the skull fragments off his face, throwing them at Swastika with lethal precision. The fragments sliced Swastika's bare torso, face, and head, opening deep gashes in him.

Robin sped at him and punched him so hard in the face that his head was knocked off his shoulders. Just then, Reichsmark came back, screaming in horrible rage. "I won't leave my compatriots to die without retribution!" he roared. "Die, you abomination!"

Robin nonchalantly caught Reichsmark by the throat, his hand burning white. "_I'm the abomination? What does that make you, then?_"

The metal skin melted off Reichsmark's body, leaving him nothing more than a man of flesh-and-blood. Robin telekinetically shaped the molten steel into a blade as Reichsmark looked at him in horror. "What are you?" he asked.

"_Your death,_" Robin replied.

Reichsmark charged at Robin, anticipating that his vampiric strength would be enough to save him. It wasn't; Robin's blinding speed ensured his death, as Reichsmark fell into a multitude of separate, evenly cut pieces.

Robin became aware of a speeding object headed toward him, so he whirled and kicked at it. The speeding object turned out to be none other than Baroness Blitzkrieg, who was now flying back. Robin pursued her with vicious punches, striking the Nazi speedster faster than she could defend herself. They zoomed all over the city, Robin overwhelming her at every pass. He then slammed her to the ground and began dragging her at super-speed, making her cry out in pain as the friction began to overwhelm her body's defenses. Finally, he threw her into a nearby car.

"Damn you," she snarled. "Murderer of my compatriots." She got up, her wounds healing, and rushed Robin, who lashed out with his impromptu sword and sliced off her legs at the knees. Baroness Blitzkrieg fell to the street, legless, looking up at Robin with dawning horror beneath her purple visor. "Bastard!! _You took my legs!_"

"_Were you proud of those frail, spindly things?_" Robin asked mockingly, holding his bloodied sword. "_You can grow them back, can't you? Can't you?! So stand up! Fight me! Do something but just lie there whimpering, or is that all you're capable of?!_"

The other Titans, along with Mai and Red X, were watching with horror. "He's so fast . . ." Kid Flash uttered. "Even I can't see him move."

"We've gotta stop him!" Cyborg yelled. "He's killing them all!"

"How the hell do you think we're going to do that?" Beast Boy asked. "You saw how crazy strong he is! We can't hope to go against that and live!"

"We owe it to him," Starfire answered. "This is not Robin. He would never behave in such a cruel and murderous fashion. We have to stop him before he goes too far!"

"He's already gone too far!" Beast Boy yelled. "He wasted four of them already and he's going for the fifth now!"

"We still have to stop him," Argent said, speeding toward Robin with Starfire following, only to stop when she saw what he was going to do.

"_Good-bye . . ._" Robin snarled, putting his sword aside in a sheath of shadow matter and grabbing Baroness Blitzkrieg by the throat. He tore the neck of her suit open and the shadow matter peeled away from his mouth, allowing him to bite her roughly. He pressed her legless body against him as she struggled futilely against him. He guzzled her blood like it was the last drink he would ever be allowed to have, as Baroness Blitzkrieg's struggles grew fainter and fainter until she just stopped moving. Robin threw her aside, the blood rejuvenating him more fully, the shadow matter peeling away from his body to reveal his normal attire.

"Robin . . ." Argent uttered, horror in her eyes.

"Argent," Robin uttered, the proverbial fog of battle faded from his mind, allowing him to realize the enormity of what he'd done. "I . . . I killed them all. All of them . . ."

"Robin," Argent spoke, starting toward him.

Robin backed away, starting into a super-speed run . . . to where, no one knew. Not even Robin himself. "Fuck . . ." Red X swore. "Never thought I'd see the day when Robin would go on a killing spree."

"Shut the fuck up, X," Cyborg grumbled grimly. "Just shut your fucking mouth."

* * *

End Notes: There you have it. Blood for blood and by the gallons! The old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days; they're back!

Sorry, I was in kind of a Sin City mood. But there you go; Robin has single-handedly eliminated the Fourth Reich. Was what Captain Nazi said about being the embodiment of Nazism true, or was he just being a delusional megalomaniac? What was Millennium up to that they had to use the Fourth Reich as a distraction? What was L'andira getting at when she said there was a way Robin could have both Starfire and Argent? And most importantly, how will Robin cope with the wanton violence he just committed? For those answers, wait for the next chapter, but let me know what you think of this one.


	11. Death March

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 11: "Death March"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers, not me. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano, not me. Most other vampire concepts/characters used don't belong to me, either.

Author's note: Well, things have just gotten worse for Robin, haven't they? He's gone and massacred the entire Fourth Reich and he hates what he's done. That's the major difference between Robin and Alucard; while Alucard has more-or-less accepted the fact that he's a monster, Robin is struggling to retain some degree of humanity. Oh, and Alucard will have something to say about the events of last chapter. Here goes.

* * *

Robin found himself back in his secret headquarters, blood tears streaming down his face. He collapsed on his knees, sobbing. "I don't want to be a monster . . ." he murmured in between sobs.

Just then, he felt ethereal arms wrap around his midsection. "I told you before," an equally ethereal voice spoke. "You are not a monster. You are a god. Embrace it."

"_Embrace it?!_" Robin yelled. "I killed five people! _Five!_"

"You killed five pathetic dogs that imagined themselves monsters," L'andira answered. "They were nothing but pathetic shadows of true vampires."

"That doesn't make it right," Robin muttered. "I can't kill. I have no right to take other people's lives. I'm not God."

"But you are _a_ god," L'andira stated. "Please do not think you are beholden to the same laws that govern mortals. Not when you have ascended."

"I didn't ask to 'ascend!'" Robin exploded. "I didn't ask for these powers!"

"I'm sorry you feel like that," L'andira whispered. "But you'll accept it in time."

"Quit your whining," a familiar deep voice spoke. "And get off your knees. It's not a proper place for a vampire such as you."

Robin rose to a standing position. "Alucard."

Alucard materialized through one of the walls of Robin's hidden base. "I had time to watch you. You were beautiful."

"Beautiful?!" Robin yelled. "You call what I did 'beautiful'? What the hell kind of monster are you?!"

"At least I recognize that I am a monster," Alucard answered. "You, however, seem to have a hard time dealing with your own monstrosity."

"I'm not a monster!" Robin yelled.

"That sword you recently acquired seems to tell me otherwise."

"Shut up!"

Alucard threw his head back and laughed. "They deserved to die, anyway. They were nothing but dogs. Dogs deserve to be put down."

"What do you mean by that?"

"A dog is someone who blindly follows his master. He has no thoughts of his own, no code that he follows save that of his master. Such a creature is not worth being called a monster or a man. You did the world a favor by killing those five dogs."

"What if I don't see it that way?"

"You will, in time."

"I'm not a murderer!"

"Aren't you? What about the one called Dagon? Didn't you kill him?"

"I had no control of myself! Every time I use these damned powers, I lose pieces of myself!"

"I see." Alucard smirked. "The shadows you manipulate are a manifestation of your bond with L'andira. Unfortunately, they're slowly consuming your soul . . . because you don't know how to control them." He threw off his sunglasses and fedora and drew two guns, one gray-silver and one black, pointing them both at Robin. "I will teach you control."

Robin drew the sword he had created from Reichsmark's steel coating. "And you're going to do that by shooting at me?"

"Learning is best done in the heat of battle."

And that was the only warning Robin got before Alucard began shooting at him. Robin dodged the bullets, moving with even greater speed than before. He flipped over Alucard and spun to kick him in the back of the head. Alucard's response was to whirl and shoot him in the stomach. Robin fell back with giant holes in his torso, holes that quickly sealed up.

He got up and charged at Alucard with sword in hand, moving with inhuman speed. Alucard seemed prepared for him, shooting at him again. Robin simply weaved between bullets and sliced Alucard in half. Unfortunately for Robin, Alucard's shadows reconnected the two halves of his body and the wound healed. Robin barely had time to dodge yet another volley of bullets. One of the bullets took his arm off at the elbow . . . and it was his sword arm.

Robin could already feel his arm regenerating, first as shadow, but quickly forming into flesh. He telekinetically called his sword to him and rushed Alucard, who continued shooting at him. Robin dodged the bullets, although he wasn't sure whether Alucard was just that bad a shot or whether the older vampire was deliberately missing to lull him into a false sense of victory.

One of the bullets hit Robin in his eye and went through his head, taking out a lens of his motorcycle goggles. He collapsed, bleeding severely from the head. After a few minutes, he began to stir, pulling the ruined motorcycle goggles off his face. He sat up, his wound healing itself. His eye wasn't as lucky, being replaced by a luridly glowing piece of shadow. Fortunately, the ultimate eye he had acquired from Pride had been left untouched.

Robin threw off his cape. "No more. Now we get serious."

He sped all over the base, making himself a hard target. He could predict the path of Alucard's bullets with the ultimate eye and he used it to his advantage, staying several steps ahead. He continued running, putting his even greater speed to use. He jumped onto the walkway, only for Alucard to follow him up there. Robin swiftly slashed at him with his sword, causing Alucard to lose an arm. Alucard merely regenerated that arm, along with the clothing covering it.

Alucard resumed firing at Robin, only for Robin to flip backwards repeatedly to avoid the bullets and do so at extremely high speeds. When Robin ran out of room to back-flip, he sprang off the wall and into a fast, forceful kick that smashed Alucard's shoulder. He flipped off Alucard's ruined shoulder and whirled to slice Alucard, but Alucard whirled as well and fired into Robin's shoulder. The bullet took Robin's arm off, just like the first time they fought, and just like before, that arm grew back. This time, it grew back as flesh.

Robin landed on the walkway and sprang at Alucard again, who continued firing at him. Robin took the bullets as the price he had to pay to get close to Alucard, striking him in the face. Robin tackled Alucard to the ground, pinning his gun hands. Alucard merely laughed at him, as though he knew something Robin didn't.

"What's so funny?" Robin asked angrily.

"You actually pinned me," Alucard replied. "But can you _hold_ me?"

Alucard turned intangible, passing through the bottom of the walkway to land agilely on the floor beneath. Robin snarled furiously and lunged at Alucard with his sword in hand. Alucard whirled and shot him in the head, dropping him on the ground. That wound healed as well and Robin twisted his hips, throwing himself into the air and landing on his feet. He placed his sword in a sheath of shadow and withdrew eight Birdarangs from his belt, holding each one between his fingers.

"What are you going to do with those things?" Alucard asked mockingly.

Robin threw them all at him, only for Alucard to shoot them all out of the air. Unfortunately for Alucard, the Birdarangs were explosive and when his bullets hit them, they detonated. The detonation sent Alucard flying backward and Robin lunged through the explosive cloud, tackling Alucard again. Alucard spun around, throwing Robin off him. Robin skidded on the floor, shifting into a fighting stance with his sword.

"Come on!" Robin snarled.

"I have to say, boy, you're just about as entertaining as the Judas Priest!" Alucard complimented.

"Shut up and fight me!" Robin yelled.

"_**As you wish!**_" Alucard shouted, lunging at Robin with both guns in hand. Robin dodged Alucard's bullets and swung his sword at the red-clad vampire, only for Alucard to dodge and place one of his guns at Robin's temple. Robin pointed his sword at Alucard's throat, poised to take off the elder vampire's head.

"Stalemate, isn't it?" Robin mused.

"If you say so," Alucard answered.

Alucard pulled the trigger . . . only for Robin not to be in the same place he once was by the time the bullet exited the chamber. The elder vampire's eyes widened in surprise, just before Robin stabbed him with his sword. Alucard grabbed Robin's wrist and threw him into one of the LCD screens that had once shown the vital signs of Robin's friends when Slade had infected them with lethal nanobots. Robin bounced off the screen, flipped into the air, and threw several explosive pellets at Alucard, who dodged them all. The pellets detonated on the floor, Alucard jumping into the air to shoot at Robin, who _flew_ around the bullets.

It was this scene that Raven happened upon when she came in an attempt to comfort Robin. Acting quickly, she created a raven-shaped telekinetic barrier to separate Alucard from Robin. Fortunately, the barrier extended all the way to the ceiling, so it wasn't as though Alucard or Robin could jump over it to attack each other. Unfortunately, it wasn't as though either one was really grateful for her presence. Alucard had the look of a child denied a toy and Robin was pounding the barrier with rage, trying to shatter it with his fists so he could get at Alucard. With a simple act of will, Raven compelled the barrier to throw Robin away from it.

"What are you doing?!" Robin snarled, his right eye regenerated but crimson with fury. The three slits in his ultimate eye had dilated with the effort required to "see" Alucard's next moves.

"Saving your stupid self from doing something suicidal," Raven replied. "Honestly, I come to comfort my best male friend and he's busy getting himself ripped apart by a lunatic vampire."

"I'm finishing this," Robin hissed. He flew up to the ceiling, crouched on it, and dive-bombed the barrier. The speed and force with which he crashed into it caused it to shatter, flaying Raven's mind, and Robin tackled Alucard, who grabbed him by the wrists and spun him around. Robin and Alucard wrestled viciously, but Alucard gained the upper hand and turned Robin's head toward the barely conscious Raven. Robin's eyes widened in horror and the bloodlust faded from his mind. "Raven . . . ?"

"Your fault, you know," Alucard said. "Should have listened to her."

Robin telekinetically threw Alucard off him and ran to Raven, clutching her close to him. "I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm so sorry . . . I'm sorry . . ."

"You love her, don't you?" Alucard mused.

"She's my friend," Robin replied.

"No, she's more than that," Alucard contested. "She's your soul mate."

"Soul mate?" Robin echoed. "It's not like that between us!"

"Not in the sense of being lovers," Alucard clarified. "In the sense of a connection that goes beyond friendship, beyond romantic love, beyond family, into the very soul itself."

"Have to . . . have to make this right . . ." Robin muttered. He gently pressed his forehead against the chakra gem in Raven's forehead, tapping into the bond they had.

* * *

"Raven!" Robin called out in her mindscape. "Raven!"

"Hello, Robin," a voice simultaneously like and unlike Raven's purred.

Robin whirled and found himself staring into the face of a red-cloaked Raven with four red eyes staring at him from beneath her hood. "You must be Raven's inner evil. I thought we got rid of you when we got rid of Trigon."

"No, you didn't," the red-cloaked Raven replied. "You merely gave Raven better control over her powers, without Trigon's fury feeding me."

"What do you want?"

"You, even though Raven's too much of a coward to admit it," Red Raven replied. She pulled down her hood, revealing Raven's face, smiling evilly at him.

"And what if I say no?" Robin asked.

"Then I will take you by force," Red Raven answered. She threw off her cloak, revealing a black leather half-shirt so small that it revealed the bottoms of her breasts and black leather panties with Raven's gem-belt wrapped loosely around her hips and thigh-high black leather boots.

"What's with the outfit?" Robin asked.

"Let's just say I absorbed a few other aspects of Raven," Red Raven answered, smiling seductively at Robin, a smile that terrified the Dark Squire.

"I won't let you take over Raven's soul!" Robin exclaimed, rushing at her. Unfortunately for him, Red Raven easily blocked his outstretched hand and flipped him over. Robin landed on his feet and swung his leg back at her, but she knocked his kick aside, thrusting the heel of her palm at his chest. The strike, combined with a telekinetic pulse, sent him flying down the desolate mindscape.

Robin sensed Red Raven flying underneath him and spun around in midair to confront her. Red Raven attempted a kick, but Robin blocked her. With her other leg, she kneed him in the groin, knocking him down to the ground. Robin grumbled irritably.

"I wear a cup, you know," he commented.

Red Raven landed before him. "Lick my boots, bitch."

Robin chuckled. "Already gotten into the swing of the whole dominatrix thing, huh?"

"That wasn't a request," Red Raven answered coldly.

"Go fuck yourself," Robin retorted, rising to his feet.

"I'd rather fuck you," Red Raven responded with a sadistic smile.

Robin shot a telekinetic pulse at Red Raven, one she easily absorbed via a telekinetic shield. Red Raven proceeded to attack Robin in close quarters, striking quickly and viciously. Robin retaliated just as brutally. After all, this wasn't the real Raven, just some perverse shadow of her.

The two soon began grappling, Red Raven taking every opportunity she could get to grope him or to press her body against his. Those opportunities never lasted long, as Robin was always pulling away from her. "Are you trying to kill me or screw me?" Robin asked, fed up.

"Screw you first," Red Raven replied with an impishly sadistic smile. "I'm only fighting you because you're fighting me."

"Like I said, I won't let you take over Raven's soul," Robin reiterated.

"'Take over Raven's soul'?" Red Raven echoed. She laughed maniacally. "I _am_ Raven's soul, you fool! She's just too much of a _coward_ to realize it! Those damned Azarathian monks have blinded her to the _truth!_"

"You're not the truth!" Robin yelled as he fought her. "You're just the part of Raven that belongs to Trigon, the seed of evil he put in her, and I'm not going to let you have your way!"

"Believe what you wish," Red Raven retorted, "but by the time this fight is over, her body and soul will be mine . . . as will _you._"

"I won't let that happen!" Robin vowed.

Robin skidded on his left foot, spinning into a kick to Red Raven's exposed stomach. The kick sent Red Raven flying, but the she-demon quickly righted herself and flew at him. Robin rose into the air and flew to meet her. Red Raven threw knives of focused telekinetic energy at him, but Robin dodged, retaliating with explosive Birdarangs. Red Raven shielded herself from the Birdarangs, but when she dropped her shield, Robin used the cover the detonations had provided to viciously pummel her.

With one strike, he sent her plummeting to the ground. Robin flew down after her to ensure she stayed down, but to his surprise, she kicked him when he neared her. Robin flipped back onto his feet and watched as she got up. She sent scythes of telekinetic force flying at him, but he cleaved them as he rushed at her. Red Raven blocked his strikes, but he grabbed her by her wrists and held them above her head.

"You like this, don't you?" she purred lustfully at him.

"Shut up," Robin hissed.

"Don't tell me you've never been tempted," Red Raven purred, just before she kneed him in the stomach. The knee came with enough force to loosen his grip on her wrists, allowing her to wiggle loose and punch him. She followed it up with a kick, knocking him to the ground. She kneeled beside him and grabbed him by his spiky black locks, pulling his face close to hers. "My sweet Robin . . ."

"I'm not your sweet Robin," Robin snarled.

"Yes, you are," Red Raven purred. "Just my sweet Robin. No one else's. And I'll kill the little bitches that think they have any more of a claim on you than I do."

Robin growled fiercely. "Ooh, I like it when you get like that," Red Raven commented with sadistic seductiveness.

"Then I hope you like this," Robin answered, placing his hand on her bare stomach and firing a telekinetic pulse right into it. The pulse sent Red Raven flying away from him, but she managed to land on her feet, just as Robin got to his. _I can't go on like this. This is her mind. I'm fighting a losing battle here._

As if sensing his presence, other Ravens began to rise up. They were the ones who had not been absorbed by Raven's inner demon and they came in a variety of colors. From among them stepped out Raven herself, the core Raven.

"You could use some help, couldn't you?" she remarked.

"Yeah," Robin admitted.

Raven absorbed her remaining personality fragments, her cloak, leotard, and boots turning white. Red Raven looked at her doppelganger with disdain. Both Ravens gathered the totality of their powers, focused it into their hands, and then loosed those energies against each other. The energies – white and onyx-and-blood – clashed against each other, writhing and twisting and screaming. After what seemed like forever, Raven's power won out over that of her inner demon, and Raven's bravery and lust were loosed from Red Raven, being reabsorbed by Raven.

Red Raven, now wearing a simple black leotard with red cloak and red shoes, glared at Raven. With the glare fixed on her face, the inner demon dematerialized into misty red energy that was absorbed by Raven, turning her cloak and shoes blue and her leotard black. Raven looked at Robin and smiled, before walking up to him and slapping him.

"I suppose I deserved that," he said.

"Damn right," Raven retorted. "Where do you get off endangering your friends just to continue a pissing contest with a psychotic vampire? Unless you're just as psychotic as he is!"

"No, I'm not," Robin answered, "but I feel like something is taking over me. I killed Dagon. I slaughtered the Fourth Reich. The more I use these powers, the more I lose myself." He looked into her eyes. "I'm scared, Raven. I'm scared of what I'm becoming. I see what Alucard is and I don't want to end up like that."

"I won't let you," Raven whispered. "Just trust in that, even if you don't trust in yourself."

"You're the best friend I could ever ask for," Robin whispered, laying a brotherly kiss above her chakra gem.

* * *

The two returned to the real world, only to see Alucard looking at them with an expression that betrayed some deep sorrow. "Alucard?" Robin asked.

"Yes, Boy Wonder?" Alucard asked, returning to his usual personality.

"Thanks," Robin replied. "I appreciate what you were trying to do, but I can't . . . I can't bring myself to dehumanize others like that, even if they're not necessarily human."

"That is your own softness, Robin," Alucard stated, "but at the same time, I almost envy you. To be worthy of the love of one such as Raven . . ."

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked.

"I see it when you look at him," Alucard replied. "But I have done enough here. Farewell." The red-coated vampire walked out of Robin's secret base, passing through the wall.

"We should get back to the others," Raven said. "They're worried about you."

"They're not afraid of me?" Robin asked.

"Some fear, yes, but they're more worried for you than they're scared of you," Raven replied. "Argent smacked some sense into Kid Flash when his anti-vampire attitude began to rear its ugly head again."

"Heh," Robin remarked. "Let's go back to the Tower."

"Gladly," Raven answered, teleporting them via her soul-self to Titans Tower.

When Robin and Raven reemerged inside Titans Tower, the other Titans and Mai swarmed around them. "You guys all right?" was the repeated question. The answer both Raven and Robin gave them was a simple "yes."

"Dr. Mid-Nite wanted to talk to you," Kid Flash said.

"About the blood sample he took from me?" Robin surmised.

"Yeah," Kid Flash replied.

Robin walked up to the Titans computer and linked up to the Justice Society's communications frequency. The one to answer was Wildcat, who glowered at Robin. "What do you want, Batboy?" he asked.

"Dr. Mid-Nite wanted to talk to me," Robin replied. "I'm available now."

"I'll get him," Wildcat said.

Soon enough, Wildcat's face was replaced by Dr. Mid-Nite's. "Hello, Robin. It's good to see you again."

"You wanted to talk to me," Robin said. "What about?"

"Mr. Terrific and I analyzed your blood sample," Dr. Mid-Nite explained, "and we found some very astounding things about your DNA through it. For one thing, every single segment of your DNA that went unused as a human has been activated since your vampirism. In essence, you no longer have junk DNA and it is that jump-started DNA that is responsible for your abilities, which we can only speculate will grow with time . . . something you have plenty of. There is a flaw to your genetic code, though . . ."

"What is it?" Argent asked hurriedly, her worry for Robin showing.

"Your genetic flaw comes in the form of an inability to sustain hemoglobin," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "That is why you, and other vampires, need to drink blood. However, your need comes with an additional complication. When you drink the blood of another vampire, or of a metahuman, your DNA re-sequences itself to adopt that vampire's or that metahuman's abilities, adding them to your own not-inconsiderable power-set."

"Wait a second!" Beast Boy shouted. "You're saying that if Robin were to drink our blood, he'd get our powers?!"

"Yes," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "It's blood-borne power mimicry."

"Is there anything else to this?" Robin asked.

"Other than that, you're in tip-top shape," Dr. Mid-Nite replied. "You won't be dying for a long time, if at all."

"Gee, thanks," Robin mumbled.

"Don't worry," Dr. Mid-Nite said. "You should be all right as long as you can maintain control over yourself or a steady supply of blood . . . not from your friends."

"I feel much better now," Robin remarked sardonically.

"I certainly hope so," Dr. Mid-Nite answered. "Have a nice night. Mid-Nite out." He closed the communication channel.

Robin slumped in the chair and spun around to look at his teammates, friends, and family. The look on his face was one of abject misery. The moment they saw that look on his face, any incipient fearfulness of their leader faded away, replaced by a determination to wipe the sorrow off his face any way they could.

"Robin?" Starfire asked.

"I'm turning into a monster," Robin replied.

"You're not a monster, Robin," Cyborg said.

"Aren't I?" Robin asked. "Those bastard cultists put this woman who imagines herself to be some sort of deity in me and now I feel like my humanity is being corroded with every passing second she remains in me."

"You just have to learn to control it," Mai said.

"I've been trying," Robin replied. "I've been fighting these temptations to slaughter my enemies, but sometimes I fail and then . . . you saw what happened. You saw."

"Kid, you are the single least monstrous guy I know," Red X said. "If you really were a monster, you'd have no remorse. You wouldn't give a shit. That's what a monster really is and you're not one. Quit talking like you are, or I'll stick a stake in your heart."

"That probably won't kill me, but it's the thought that counts," Robin mused. "I'm going to rest." He stood up and began to walk out of the living-slash-ops room.

"Mind if I join you?" Argent asked.

"I'd like that, but I need to be alone right now," Robin replied. "You're welcome to 'sneak up' on me later, though."

"Sure, love," Argent said.

* * *

Robin went to his room and collapsed on his bed, ruminating on what he knew. When he'd drank Captain Nazi's and Baroness Blitzkrieg's blood, he'd not only absorbed their power, but also their knowledge. He knew what they had been distracting him and the other Titans from, and that was Millennium's and Slade's master plan. They had bioengineered an army of artificial vampires, created from the neo-Nazi skinheads littering this particular state.

"Shit," Robin muttered. "We're going to be in for it."

He closed his eyes, only to become aware of an ethereal yet very real weight on his body. He looked up and found himself staring into L'andira's eyes. "I'm trying to rest. Do you mind?"

"Do you know why you really have no control?" she asked. "Because you keep fighting me. If you would simply embrace me, you would have the control you need."

"And who's to say that I don't lose myself in you?" Robin retorted. "That I don't lose my identity, my personality, my _self?_"

"That's what trust is about," L'andira replied. "Do you trust me?"

"I can't," Robin answered. "The more I tap into your power, the more of myself I lose."

"And there is your problem," L'andira said. "You think of it as _my_ power, when it is really _our_ power. Embrace it. Embrace me." Her voice dropped to a pleading whisper. "Please."

Robin looked into her eyes, and his heart broke. "I can't . . . I can't . . . I'm sorry."

L'andira never broke eye contact with him, but Robin suddenly found himself plunged into a different time, a different world. He saw visions, visions of a woman with hair like flexible blue needles, slate skin, and red eyes. She wore a skintight suit of animal hide and held an energy scythe, which she used to cleave the vampire-like monsters known as Wamphyri. As she fought, portals opened around her and hands reached out of those portals to grab her. She fought hard against them, but they pulled her inside.

"_What are you doing?!" she asked._

The beings behind those hands did not answer her. They simply shoved her down, down into a white abyss that would come to be known as the Silent Zone. There was nothing in it . . . save her . . . and a soul-crushing emptiness. She was cut off from everything and everyone, her priestesses, her worshippers, the humans she would have given everything for . . . everything.

Robin awoke back in the world he knew, sobbing. "Was that . . . was that you?" he asked.

"Yes," she whispered ruefully.

"So alone . . . so alone . . . oh, God, how could they do this to you?" he asked, his voice choking from the sobs wrenched from his throat.

L'andira held him close, kissing away his tears. "That's why I need you, Robin. I don't want to be alone anymore."

It was this scene that Argent happened upon. Her scarlet eyes widened in shock, seeing the ethereal yet perfectly real woman holding Robin as he wept. Despite the more sinister inferences that could be drawn from this scene, Robin's pain was palpable, and Argent wanted to ease it. She floated to the bed and wrapped her arms around Robin, pressing herself against his back while L'andira covered his front.

"Toni . . . L'andira . . ." Robin murmured.

"Shhhhh . . . we're here, Robin," Argent whispered in his ear. She could feel Robin relax against her, something she was grateful for. She looked up into the ruby eyes of L'andira and the dark deity smiled warmly at her before nestling into Robin's embrace.

* * *

End Notes: That's a good way to end the chapter now. The next chapter's going to feature the showdown between the Titans, the Initiative, Hellsing, Iscariot, and Millennium, and it's going to be an all-out brawl. In that chapter, you will see Slade's real reasons for joining Millennium, as well as abilities in Robin and Argent that you've never seen before. Plus, depending on how things pan out, what L'andira was telling Robin in the beginning of chapter 10 can come true, too. In the meantime, slip me some feedback on this chapter.


	12. My Own Summer

"Vampire Genesis"

Chapter 12: "My Own Summer"

Disclaimer: Teen Titans and Hellsing do not belong to me. Teen Titans belongs to DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Hellsing belongs to Kohta Hirano. Most other characters/concepts seen here belong to others; I've simply brought them together for the purpose of this fic.

Author's note: It's been a long time since chapter 11, huh? Well, I didn't have much inspiration for how to end this story back then, but now I do. I promise you, there will be blood pouring down the streets of Jump City and lots of it. And now that Robin has accepted L'andira, you will most likely see him unveil other powers. A little hint: The major elemental powers can be seen as localized applications of telekinesis. Anyway, on to the conclusion of the story.

* * *

Robin awakened, feeling someone comfortably pressed against his bare chest. As he became more aware, he noticed that the person pressed against him was female and oddly lukewarm. He leaned closer and inhaled her scent, something sweet and ripe. Upon inhaling her scent, he began to remember everything that had transpired the night before.

_Her hands caressed the hard planes of his body, her lips marking his body as her territory. Red eyes stared into his blue-and-silver eyes with a burning lust that defied description. Behind him, an ethereal yet solid generous bosom pressed against his back as a rough tongue licked his neck._

Robin let out a soft moan at the memory, his lower area stirring to life. The girl he held in his arms began to shift, as though sensing his arousal. In fact, her backside was rubbing against the evidence of said arousal. A soft hum escaped her lips. "Ready to go again? You're insatiable."

"So were you, Toni," Robin whispered. "You couldn't get enough of me last night."

Toni, a.k.a. Argent, chuckled and turned in Robin's arms so that she was looking at him. She kissed him deeply, sliding her tongue into his willing mouth. Robin sucked on her tongue, eliciting a gentle moan from Argent. She cut her tongue on his fang, whimpering in a mixture of pain and pleasure as Robin sucked her tongue more vigorously, sipping the blood from her wound.

She felt him penetrate her again and let out a soft moan. "Robin . . ." she breathed out after he broke their kiss. She buried her face in his shoulder, murmuring soft nothings as he pushed up inside her. She opened her mouth and bit the vein in his shoulder, drinking the blood that flowed from the wound. Robin arched his back, inadvertently pushing deeper into Argent's womanly depths, his mouth open in a silent scream of rapture.

Argent pulled back and let Robin's wound heal itself, capturing his lips with hers in a bloodstained kiss. Robin cleaned her mouth of his blood and rolled them over so that he was on top. She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him close to her. She pushed her hips up against his forcefully, letting him know how she wanted it. He smirked and pushed back down against her just as forcefully, eliciting a pleasured gasp from her.

"God . . ." she uttered.

"Just me, love," Robin whispered heatedly. "Just me."

"Love . . ." Argent said. "That's the first time you've called me that."

* * *

Somewhere else within the city guarded by the Teen Titans, Slade and Schrödinger looked upon the army of vampires Millennium had engineered out of one thousand neo-Nazis. They stood, awaiting orders from their commander. "Splendid, aren't they?" Schrödinger remarked.

"Yes, they are," Slade replied evenly.

"You're gonna lead them into the city, right?" Schrödinger asked.

"Yes," Slade answered just as evenly. "And they're going to slaughter everyone there. Draw out those foolish Titans, call out the Hellsing family pet they call Alucard, and lure Iscariot's science project to us. Then we'll slaughter each and every one of them."

"What about Robin? The Major finds him interesting."

"The Major can have what's left of his corpse." Slade stared at the cat-boy with his one visible eye, which was tinted a particularly monstrous shade of red.

"Very well." Schrödinger grinned. "I can't wait for what's going to come."

"I can. That's what patience is about, little boy."

Schrödinger scowled at the masked Wamphyr. "Don't call me 'little boy.'"

* * *

At some point, while Slade and Millennium's resident cat-boy were busy plotting the path of the chaos that would result from their actions, Robin and Argent had found it in themselves to rejoin their teammates. Fortunately, Robin and Argent were both dressed in their usual outfits.

"Finally," Beast Boy grumbled. "What were you two doing all night and day?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Argent asked with a naughty grin.

"We don't," Cyborg answered for everyone.

"Well, whatever you were doing, I hope you had fun doing it," Kid Flash remarked.

"We did," Argent replied, still grinning.

"Judging by that grin, it was a lot of fun," Raven mused.

Starfire did not join the conversation. She could smell the scent of sex on them. _It is not fair. I loved him first, loved him longest. Why did he choose Argent over me? Why? Am I not what he needs?_

Robin could sense Starfire's distress and he felt guilty that he was the cause of it. _I wish things could be different, Star. I really do, but this is just the way things are._

_Things can be different, you know,_ L'andira whispered in his thoughts. _You can have her. Her and Argent._

_So you say, but would they be able to understand, let alone accept it?_ Robin wondered.

_There is such a thing as ménage a trois,_ L'andira responded. _Household of three. A couple accepts a third as their shared lover, so there is less chance of jealousy between the couple, as long as the couple makes it clear to their third that neither of them will spurn the other for their third. Does that sound good to you?_

_I don't know . . ._

_Oh, you're still clinging to your mortal sensibilities? Robin, Robin, Robin. How many times do I have to tell you before it finally sinks in? You're a vampire. A dark god. You don't need to answer to the mores of humanity._

_I'm still not sure._

_It's not cheating if your partner shares her._ L'andira filled Robin's mind with images of Starfire and Argent sensually exploring each other's bodies and Robin felt blood rush to his groin.

Robin was brought back to reality by a whirring X-blade being swung at his head. The Dark Squire bent backward to evade it and flipped back to kick Red X's arm. He did a backward handspring and landed on his feet. "What was that about, X?"

"Trying to get your attention, kid," Red X replied.

"Huh," Robin mumbled.

"Anyway, since you're here with us now . . ." Red X prompted

"When I absorbed Captain Nazi's blood and later drank Baroness Blitzkrieg's blood, I didn't just take their power, I took their memories, too," Robin explained. "I know what Millennium is planning. They've made an army of vampires and they're going to storm the city with them, paint the streets red with the blood of innocent people."

"Why would they do something like that?" Mai asked.

"Because they want carnage and chaos," Robin replied. "Endless war. And they're beginning it here."

"We'll stop them," Cyborg said.

"Of course we will," Robin agreed, "but we can't do it alone. That's why I'm going to call in the Justice League and Justice Society. They'll be our backup, just in case."

"What about Alucard?" Kid Flash asked. "That guy could probably help."

"Yeah," Robin admitted, "but I don't know how to reach him."

"He'll probably just find you," Raven supposed.

"Maybe," Robin answered, going to the Tower supercomputer and tapping into the communications frequencies of the Justice League Watchtower and Justice Society brownstone. Batman and Mister Terrific answered.

"Robin," Batman greeted.

"Robin," Mister Terrific greeted.

"Millennium's going to attack Jump City tonight," Robin spoke, wasting no time with pleasantries. "With a thousand bioengineered vampires. It's going to be a bloodbath and the Titans need the League and the Society to be there to help stop it."

"We'll be there," Batman answered.

"So will the Justice Society," Mister Terrific added.

"Good to hear," Robin said. "Robin out." He closed the communications channels.

"What do we do now?" Beast Boy asked.

"We go to them," Robin replied. "We stop them right in their miserable tracks before they can get started." He turned around and walked toward the Tower vehicle bay, the other Titans, Mai, and Red X following him. Once there, Robin got on his R-Cycle and revved it up, Red X sitting behind him. Cyborg took the wheel of his T-Car, with Jericho, Raven, Beast Boy, and Mai sitting in the car with him.

* * *

The Titans exited the vehicle bay, riding out into the city, Kid Flash running alongside the Titans' vehicles and Starfire and Argent flying above them. Robin led the way, heading toward what he was sure was Millennium's base in Jump City. As he rode, he heard a helicopter flying above them but didn't pay it any mind. He couldn't afford to be distracted.

As the Titans got closer to the base, Robin suddenly heard a gun shell flying toward them. He swerved out of the way and telekinetically caught the shell, flinging it back at whoever had fired it. A grimly satisfying explosion could be heard and Robin accelerated. The next time, a heavy mortar came at them, but Argent ensnared it with her Soul Slayer's initial release and threw it back at whoever had launched it. Another explosion, this one bigger and louder, could be heard.

"They're not letting us pass without a fight," Cyborg remarked.

"Sounds like fun," Mai remarked, grinning savagely with her fangs exposed.

A rocket-propelled grenade came at the Titans next. "Don't you bastards learn?" Robin asked, just as he telekinetically caught the grenade and threw it back at the one who had launched it, whoever the unfortunate was. "We're almost there."

"That's good," Cyborg said.

The Titans were close enough to see a base surrounded by towers with machine guns protruding from their windows, machine guns that opened fire on them. Robin and Cyborg swerved their respective vehicles out of the way of the bullets, while Kid Flash, Starfire, and Argent outmaneuvered them. Starfire retaliated with starbolts, while Argent deflected the bullets with the initial release of Crimson Shadow.

Suddenly, an explosive shell struck one of the gun towers, reducing it to rubble. "What the fuck was that?!" Kid Flash asked.

Robin smirked. "Police Girl."

"I have a name!" a familiar female voice shouted. "It's Seras Victoria!"

Robin chuckled and jumped off his motorcycle, allowing Red X to take the handlebars. While in the air, he spotted the helicopter, seeing a man in soldier gear piloting a helicopter while a familiar busty blonde vampire pointed her giant cannon out of the window and fired it at enemies below. Accompanying her was a similarly familiar red-coated male vampire whose expression betrayed nothing except dark amusement.

Those within the remaining gun towers fired at the aerial Robin, who taught them to regret that move as he soared through the air, dodging their bullets. Robin mentally accelerated the kinetic energy of the air molecules around his hands, generating heat and flame around his hands. He flew at a gun tower, easily evading the gunfire, and grabbed the gun barrel protruding from the window. He projected heat and flame through the barrel, effectively detonating the gun. He burst inside and decapitated the vampire that had held the gun with a fiery hand, kicking the head out the window and at another gun tower, blasting a hole in it.

"What was that?!" Red X asked.

Robin flew into the gun tower he had just knocked a hole in and ripped out the heart of the vampire that had been firing at him. He crushed the heart into a bloody mess on his hand and jumped out as an explosive shell from Seras's gun hit another gun tower. Below him, Red X and Cyborg used their respective vehicles' weapons systems to blast a hole in the base.

"Titans . . ." Robin called out. "Shred."

Leading by example, Robin lunged into the midst of the attacking vampires, drawing the sword he had made from Reichsmark's steel coating and slicing scores apart in what seemed to be one move. Of course, it would look like one move to someone with weak senses; those with stronger senses – such as the vampires among them – knew that Robin had killed them at super-speed.

"Hey, save some for us!" Red X shouted, running in and slicing vampires' heads off with whirring X-blades.

The other Titans, along with Mai and Alucard, entered the base and began to fight the vampires. Raven used her telekinesis to block their attacks and retaliate with attacks of her own. Jericho tore through vampires with superhuman strength and speed. Beast Boy trampled Millennium's vampires as a rhinoceros. Cyborg blasted them with his Sonic Cannon, while Starfire assaulted them with starbolt-enhanced punches. Kid Flash and Mai used their speed to evade the Millennium vampires' attacks and retaliate with attacks of their own. Alucard pulled out a silvery gun and a black gun, both too large for a normal human to wield, and fired into the midst of the Millennium vampires, killing them with each shot. Argent slashed them with Crimson Shadow's chain blade.

Suddenly, blessed blades flew at Millennium's vampires, striking them in their hearts or heads and causing them to crumble into dust. "What the hell?" Kid Flash asked.

"_**Judas Priest!**_" Alucard exclaimed delightedly. "So you've come to kill them, too!"

"I am on a mission of God," Anderson stated with a demonic smile. "To see these vile abominations sent to the hell that spawned them!"

"No hell spawned these creatures," Robin answered. "Just very sick men."

"It does not matter," Anderson said. "They will go to hell, anyway!" With that said, he charged into the fray and began tearing Millennium vampires apart with his blessed blades.

"Fucking psycho," Kid Flash grumbled.

"He's a helpful psycho," Red X remarked. "For now, anyway."

Incendiary shells flew at Millennium's vampires, signaling the presence of Seras Victoria. She ran at the bioengineered vampires while holding her cannon and fired into their midst. From out of the midst of Millennium's vampires stepped a tall, muscular man in Nazi-style combat fatigues.

"Captain," Alucard greeted.

The silent Captain charged Alucard with inhuman speed, only for Alucard to shoot at him. The Captain dodged the shot and struck Alucard hard enough to knock the No-Life King back. The Captain drew a pair of Mauser C96 pistols with abnormally long barrels and began shooting at Alucard, who retaliated with his own heavy pistols.

As Alucard and the Captain fought, Robin spotted Slade nonchalantly observing the battle from a catwalk. He snarled and jumped up onto the catwalk. "Slade."

"Robin."

Both black-clad fighters drew their swords and lunged at each other with inhuman speed. Their swords clashed midway and they pushed against each other before telekinetic force projected by both repelled each other. Both skidded backward from each other on the catwalk but quickly recovered and attacked each other again. Robin flipped over Slade and whirled to kick him in the back of the head, only for Slade to grab his ankle and throw him down into the midst of the bioengineered vampires. Slade jumped down after him with a battle cry, aiming to slice him in two. Robin easily blocked Slade's longsword and the two resumed their fight.

"Another child of the damned!" Anderson roared, rushing at Slade to impale him with his blessed blades.

"Anderson!" Robin shouted.

Anderson had impaled Slade, but Slade seemed more amused than anything else. He reached behind himself and removed the blades from his back, slashing Anderson with his own weapons in one swift motion. Anderson roared with rage and drew more blessed blades, throwing them furiously at Slade, who blocked them all with his longsword.

"What are you waiting for?" Schrödinger asked the bioengineered vampires. "Quit wasting time and get out there!"

The Millennium vampires, which now numbered in the several hundreds instead of the thousand they had been before, began to pour out of the base, despite the best efforts of the Titans and their allies. Of course, they weren't the only ones trying to stop the Millennium vampires, as cross-shaped silver shuriken plunging into their heads proved. A sword with magical properties sliced through other Millennium vampires, while extended arm-blades did their gruesome task.

"They're escaping!" Cyborg shouted.

"Dude, we get that!" Beast Boy exclaimed, running after them as a jaguar.

"How are we going to stop all of them?" Kid Flash asked.

"We do," Raven replied, wrapping the Titans in her soul-self and carrying them outside of the Millennium base to fight the bioengineered vampires. Despite their efforts, the vampires were still of such numbers that they could practically mow the Titans down and continue on their hellish path into the city.

"How the fuck are we going to stop them?" Argent asked.

_There is a way,_ Thanatos whispered.

_How?_ Argent asked.

_The final release of Crimson Shadow,_ Thanatos replied. _The totality of my power, released in you, my dear. All you have to do . . . is call out._

"Crimson Shadow . . . ensnare their apostate souls," Argent whispered, as the words emerged in her mind. Immediately, Crimson Shadow's chain blade wrapped around her body but without touching her. The hilt disappeared, leaving just the chain and its blade. The blade melted away to leave just the chain, which glowed a bright red and split apart into a multitude of links that spun around her. The links suddenly fired away in all directions, flying into the air above Argent and linking together as a multitude of writhing chains that the transformed Argent caught.

"Whoa . . ." Kid Flash exclaimed. "Is that you, Argent?"

"Yeah," Argent replied. Her outfit had changed into an almost transparent black babydoll dress with a tattered hem and extremely skimpy shorts. She wore knee-high laced-up black boots with fishnet stockings, as well as black spike bracelets and a spike choker. Her eyes were ringed with darker makeup and her lips were colored blacker than the night itself. "And now it's time to kick ass." She rocketed into the city, the chains following her.

* * *

The Millennium vampires' task was already well under way; they were feeding off everybody who was trying to flee, as mere humans couldn't hope to outrun or outfight vampires. When the other Titans reached the city, their eyes were wide with horror upon seeing the carnage caused by the Millennium vampires. "They are . . . slaughtering them . . ." Starfire uttered in horror.

Even worse, the vampires' victims were rising as ghouls, who went after other humans and began to eat them. "What are we waiting for?" Robin asked angrily, speeding toward a gaggle of vampires and ghouls and savagely tearing into them with his sword and bare hands. Argent extended the chains of Crimson Shadow at the vampires and ghouls, ripping them apart. Starfire fired her starbolts at the vampires and ghouls, while Raven used her soul-self to shred them. Beast Boy rammed them in the form of a rhinoceros, while Cyborg blasted them with his dual Sonic Cannons.

Kid Flash attacked the vampires and ghouls at super-speed, while Jericho jumped from body to body, using each body to attack and then escaping to another before they got wise to him. Mai fought the vampires and ghouls with inhuman speed and strength, and Julius, Adrian, and Rayne had gotten in on the action, using their respective weapons to fight the vampires and ghouls. Explosive shells fired into the vampires and ghouls, signaling that Seras had come to assist them.

Of course, Slade had come along to observe, or so it seemed. He smirked beneath his mask; the moment had arrived, signaled by the sudden appearance of glowing demonic runes on the streets where the Millennium vampires rampaged.

"Oh, no . . ." Raven uttered.

_This is why Slade allied with Millennium!_ L'andira cried out in horror. _He used them to provide himself with sacrifices!_

_Sacrifices?!_ Robin repeated. _For what?_

_To become a new incarnation of the Wamphyr God,_ L'andira explained.

Raven wrapped the Titans and their allies in her soul-self and levitated them above ground. They were just in time to witness the ritual that consumed vampires and ghouls alike, transferring their power into Slade. Slade roared in unholy triumph as purple-and-red light emanated from him, signaling his transformation. When the light show faded, he was garbed in a black jacket opened to expose a shirtless torso and black pants and boots. His hair was white-blond and hung over his right eye, while his left was a malevolent crimson. A mouthpiece molded to resemble a jawbone covered his mouth, chin, and jaw, while his sword rested in a sheath on his back.

"Hello," Slade greeted. "Welcome to my world."

There was no discernable delay between his speech and his action. One second, he had finished talking and the second after that, he had pierced Raven's soul-self, scattering the Titans. Robin was quick to recover, using his telekinetic powers to catch the others and levitate them to safety. Slade was undeterred, speeding toward Robin and slashing him across the chest multiple times in rapid succession. Robin attempted to retaliate, but Slade dodged with brutal ease and slashed Robin's face from behind, his sword at an angle that it knocked Robin's motorcycle goggles off and cut his eye.

Robin snarled and swung his sword at Slade, only for Slade to dodge again. It went on like this for quite some time; Robin attempting to attack and Slade effortlessly dodging Robin's attempts at attacking him and retaliating with attacks of his own. Twenty minutes in, Slade had sustained no wounds at all, while Robin was bleeding everywhere and had nearly lost an eye. Robin spun around frantically, attempting to perceive Slade's next movements with his ultimate eye, but Slade was too fast.

"What's the matter, Robin?" Slade asked mockingly. "You're so slow."

Argent telekinetically threw the chains of Crimson Shadow at Slade, who let them wrap around his arm just to use them to pull Argent to him. Argent let go of Crimson Shadow and let the multitude of crimson chains bind Slade. She generated a giant plasma fist and used it to punch Slade, knocking him off the rooftop on which he stood. Argent flew down after him, only to find Crimson Shadow scattered on the street. She picked up her weapon, only to sense Slade behind her.

She whirled around to project plasma knives at him, but even at that close range he was able to dodge them, prompting a gasp of shock from her. Undeterred despite that, she wrapped part of Crimson Shadow around her arm and hand and punched Slade, who took her punch like it was nothing. He slashed at her with his sword, but she took off into the air. Unfortunately for her, so did he. Argent snapped the chains out at Slade, but Slade caught them with his sword blade and used the leverage to spin her around. Argent maneuvered herself into a kick to Slade's exposed torso, knocking him to the ground. The Wamphyr God simply landed on his feet, smiling up at Argent.

"You're not going to be smiling for long, you son of a bitch!" Cyborg shouted, firing dual Sonic Cannons at Slade. By the time the blast reached the spot where Slade had been, the Wamphyr God was already gone . . . and behind Cyborg, as evinced by a tap on the machine-man hybrid's shoulder. Cyborg barely had time to turn around before he was sent flying down the street by a punch from Slade.

Beast Boy charged at Slade as an elephant, but Slade grabbed him by the tusks and threw him over his head. Beast Boy transformed into a pterodactyl to save himself and flew with his talons extended at Slade, only for Slade to dodge and jump on Beast Boy's back. The next thing Beast Boy knew, a sword had punctured his back and he was plummeting to the ground. He collapsed in human form, bleeding from his back.

Raven was about to attack Slade, but Jericho gently gripped her arm and nodded toward Beast Boy. Understanding his meaning, Raven went to Beast Boy, while Jericho fought Slade. "My son, why have you forsaken me?" Slade asked.

Jericho snarled and kicked Slade, only for Slade to catch his ankle and twist. Jericho twisted as well, kicking Slade with his other foot. Slade staggered back slightly, and Jericho pursued his advantage with forceful blows. Finally, Slade blocked Jericho's punch and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him tumbling down the street.

Kid Flash zoomed toward Slade and punched him hundreds of times in the space of mere seconds. Unfortunately for him, Slade dodged each and every one of his punches until he got bored and knocked the speedster down with one punch. Mai and Red X double-teamed Slade, Red X with whirring X-blades and Mai with her vampiric speed and strength. Unfortunately, neither proved to be much of a match for the transformed Slade and both were summarily knocked out.

Starfire peppered Slade with starbolts, while Seras fired explosive and incendiary shells at Slade. Slade dodged both Starfire's and Seras's attacks and retaliated with fireballs thrown at both young women. Starfire was knocked down, while Seras had to jump off her rooftop to evade. As she plummeted, she fired another shell at Slade, who evaded and threw another fireball at her. Seras twisted out of the way even as she continued to fall, landing on her feet and firing another shell at the Wamphyr God. This time, it seemed to hit, but Slade was protected by a telekinetic shield, which made the shell utterly ineffectual.

Blessed blades and silver-core bullets bounced off Slade's telekinetic field, signaling the arrival of Anderson and Alucard. Cross-shaped silver shuriken were similarly deflected, along with mystical fireballs and a certain pair of arm-blades. Alucard smirked when he spotted the one who had projected the mystical fireballs.

"It appears that for once, we're on the same side, aren't we, son?" he remarked.

Adrian nodded to his father, once known as Count Dracula and now known by the same name Adrian had once taken to demonstrate his opposition to the man that had sired him. Anderson looked at Alucard and Adrian, aghast. "A _son?!_" he exploded. "What _harlot_ would have birthed your children?!"

"For your information, my mother is not a harlot," Adrian answered, his matter-of-fact tone belying his anger at the "holy man" who dared insult his mother.

"Bitch later," Rayne said, attacking Slade at high speed with her arm-blades. Slade bore her attacks until he spotted an opening . . . and he took it, slugging her in the stomach. Rayne skidded back but recovered quickly, kicking Slade in the chest and aiming the spike heel on her shoe for his heart. Slade let her spike heel pierce him in the heart, only to telekinetically push her away from him.

A black blur moved toward Slade, barely distinguishable as something resembling a human, and struck him. Slade fell back and looked at his attacker. "So you've come back."

"That's right," Robin replied, garbed in a full-body black suit with black armor covering his chest, shoulders, forearms, and thighs. Armored boots covered his feet and calves and a crimson R-symbol rested over the left side of his chest. Three short, curved blades extended from the armored bracers on his forearms.

Slade and Robin glared at each other, as the other Titans returned to flank Robin. Both vampire demigods gripped their swords tightly, just as they lunged at each other, slashing each other. Robin's armor protected him for the most part, while Slade was cut. Slade's wound healed and he wrapped fire around his sword, slashing at Robin again. Robin ducked under Slade's swing and slashed upward, cutting Slade again, only for Slade to heal again.

Slade and Robin attacked each other at high speed, their swords clashing viciously. They pushed against each other, only to break away because their telekinetic powers had repelled each other. They skidded backwards from each other, only for Slade to suddenly appear in Robin's face with his blade extended. Robin dodged and moved behind Slade, only for Slade to move behind him. Robin blocked Slade's sword and kicked him in the solar plexus, sending the Wamphyr God flying backwards.

Robin sped behind Slade and kicked him in the air, jumping up to continue kicking him and wrapping shadow wire around Slade's body. Robin dropped down, slamming Slade to the ground and creating a good-sized crater. Slade broke free of the shadow wire and slashed Robin's cheek, only for the wound to quickly heal itself. Robin slashed Slade across the face, but Slade's wound healed just as quickly as Robin's had.

Both combatants flipped out of the crater, Slade lunging toward Robin as soon as they were out. Robin blocked Slade's attack and kicked him to the ground, only for Slade to tumble backward onto his feet and spring at Robin again. Robin dodged Slade's attack and sliced Slade's torso off his legs. Slade snarled in rage as he fell legless to the ground, rolling himself onto his back.

"You gonna regenerate those things?" Robin asked with mocking coolness. "No matter. I'm not giving you that chance." He glared at Slade's legs and they burst into flame. He looked at Slade and the same thing happened to Slade. "It's over. And not soon enough." Robin's armor shifted back into his normal attire, a sleeveless black shirt with an R-brand on the left side of the chest and black pants with buckles on the thighs.

* * *

The next few weeks were spent rebuilding the areas of the city that had been damaged in Millennium's attempt to conquer the United States. They'd probably think a good long while before trying again there, but the end result would be the same. Millennium would fall, but until then, the Titans had decided to leave the occult menaces to the more expert hands of Hellsing and Iscariot, even if they both had pretty nutty agents. Besides, Seras wasn't so bad; Alucard could probably stand to treat her better. Addressing her by her proper name would be a good start.

At the culmination of the rebuilding, Robin gently glided to Starfire and whispered in her ear, "Come to my room tonight. Alone. Toni and I will be waiting for you."

"Yes," Starfire answered.

That night, when Starfire was certain everyone else was asleep, she extricated herself from her bed and exited her room. She walked down the hall and turned the corner, continuing to walk down the corridors until she reached the door that said "Robin." At that moment, she heard Robin's voice in her mind.

_Starfire . . . come on in._

Starfire obeyed, the door sliding open to allow her access. She stepped inside and saw that the lights were on, but dim. Still, her vision was acute enough that she could see just fine. She looked around and saw Robin and Argent sitting on the bed together, Robin in a black silk jacket and pants (and nothing else) and Argent in a black silk babydoll nightdress that split below the bosom to reveal a pair of red silk panties. Argent sat behind Robin in a half-upright, half-reclining position, her arms draped over his chest. Both vampiric Titans looked at her with smoldering expressions.

"Why did you call me here?" Starfire asked.

"Argent and I have come to an understanding," Robin replied, a faint smile coming to his face. "You love me, Argent loves me, I love you both . . . so it will be us three, from now on."

"_You mean, us four,_" L'andira spoke, her semisolid astral form emerging behind Starfire, who literally jumped in shock.

"Who is she?!" Starfire asked in fright.

"_I am L'andira,_" the vampire progenitor replied, smiling up at Starfire. "_You can come down. I won't bite . . . unless you want me to._"

Starfire floated down to the floor. "This . . . is a lot to take in. Are you Robin's lover, too?"

"_Not quite,_" L'andira replied. "_We have a deeper bond than that. Sex is simply how we choose to express it._"

Starfire smiled brightly, prompting the other three in the room to look at her askance. The Tamaranean princess decided to elucidate herself. "Forgive me . . . it is simply that on Tamaran, we believe very strongly in love above all else. In fact, we believe in it so strongly that we do not usually restrict it to one person. The bonds we make are always of an emotional nature, a nature that sometimes finds expression in the physical."

"_May I have this kiss?_" L'andira asked chivalrously.

"Yes . . ." Starfire replied, allowing L'andira to take her lips in a chaste kiss that nonetheless promised more. As they kissed, L'andira subtly guided Starfire over to Robin, gently pushing the Tamaranean girl onto the Dark Squire's lap. Starfire turned around and kissed Robin passionately, gratified that she was not doing this just to learn his language, but because she wanted to taste him. As they kissed, Argent eased Robin's jacket off and gently ran her nails down his back, the slight pain thrilling him.

Over the past two months, Robin had been tested in ways that no young man should have to be. He had been blessed and cursed with power beyond the imagination of any mortal, and he had chosen to wield it with an inner strength unheard of in most mortals. In return, the universe had rewarded him with a team that had fought by his side, and three women that he loved more than anything. It was good to be him.

* * *

End Notes: That's it; the end of my vampire story. The end for now, that is. If you want to know how Robin was able to kick Slade's ass, it's because Slade didn't have all the sacrifices he needed for "ultimate" power. If he had, dunno if anybody – even Robin – could have stopped him. Fortunately, the Titans whittled the numbers of Millennium's vampires enough to have a shot at beating Slade. Speaking of Slade, his transformed appearance is inspired somewhat by Grimmjow Jaggerjaques, an antagonist from the manga/anime Bleach.

Starfire's explanation of her people's take on love and relationships comes from the original comics, which I like. Also, vampire relationships are somewhat different from human relationships, more like those of comic Tamaraneans, so that's how Robin and Argent can have Starfire and L'andira as shared lovers. If you're wondering why Robin occasionally calls Argent "Toni," that's her real name in the comics. Why doesn't Argent call him by his real name, then? She doesn't exactly know it yet.

The initial and final releases of Crimson Shadow, as well as Crimson Shadow's status as a "Soul Slayer," are inspired by Bleach's take on the Japanese death gods known as shinigami. The transformation that comes with Crimson Shadow's final release is inspired by Bleach's main character Ichigo Kurosaki's final release.

Why pair Robin with Argent? Why not? Very few people have done it before, and I always like to go to less-treaded ground, so . . . Besides, every time a vampire fic comes around, Robin and Raven always get paired, so I wanted to do something different. Plus, mine is finished and everyone else's is still going, no offense to them. Anyway, see you around.


End file.
